London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Can Liz Truss's new charm offensive win over Tory MPs?

Can Liz Truss's new charm offensive win over Tory MPs?

When a leader lets it be known they are in listening mode, or words to that effect, it usually means there is already a 170 decibel political firework display well under way.

There is and it's volcanic.

The breakdown in discipline during the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham last week was extraordinary because of its breadth: nervous activists, jittery backbenchers and disloyal cabinet ministers.

So where do we find ourselves as MPs prepare to return to Westminster?

In the words of one senior figure: "This is a party that is unstoppable when it has the will to win. But the opposite is true too, when it decides it has a death wish."

Among Liz Truss's critics, and there are many, her speech to close the party conference "bought her half a week" in the words of one.

"It wasn't brilliant, but it wasn't terrible."

But things do seem just a little cooler than they were in the hothouse of Birmingham.

The appointment of Greg Hands as international trade minister, replacing Conor Burns, is seen as good news by those wanting to see evidence the prime minister is listening.

Mr Hands was a supporter of Rishi Sunak for the party leadership, and very, very few of those MPs were given jobs in Liz Truss's government.

Bizarrely, given the prime minister has been in post for a month now, this is the first normal Westminster week of her time in office.

After the mourning period for the Queen and the party conferences, Parliament is back, and the usual weekly fixtures, such as Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday are in place.

Conservative MPs can expect a noticeable dollop of love and attention coming their way from Downing Street, with the PM leading meetings of groups of Tory MPs, Project Reassurance (my phrase, not theirs) is underway.

There will be a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning as usual.

Among many of the issues causing ructions: benefits payments, and whether Universal Credit, a benefit received by 5.6 million people, rises in line with wages or inflation.

A basket of benefits have, by law, to go up in line with prices - such as the Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Carers' Allowance and Incapacity Benefit.

But Universal Credit does not - it is a decision taken every year.

The inflation figure that the rate could be lifted by is the one for the Consumer Prices Index, in September.

Ministers will have that number by the middle of next week - and so will have, by then, a more rounded sense of how much of a cost gap there is between the two options.

The prime minister says she has not decided what to do, although my understanding is her initial hunch was to put them up by the lower amount (wages), rather than the higher, more expensive amount (prices).

But, it doesn't look like she has the numbers in Parliament to do it.

Just this morning, the former cabinet minister Sajid Javid joined those saying it must rise by the higher amount.

"The last week means the prime minister has no political space at all," one cabinet minister told me.

A final thought.

If anything you have read in the last few days sounds like a fountain of hyperbole from excitable reporters - and yes, we are occasionally guilty of a splash of excitability - just measure the depth and breadth and verbiage of the pushback in the newspapers over the weekend.

Cabinet ministers, including Penny Mordaunt, arguably the most transparently disloyal last week, pledged their loyalty.

Then there was a grandee, Sir Bill Cash; and a message from the grassroots too, in a letter to the Sunday Telegraph.

At all altitudes of the party, there is a collective attempt to discourage what some see as a lemming tendency taking grip.

It's the prime minister's job to try to turn that fatalism off.

It's one heck of a job.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
Jellyfish Swarm Triggers Shutdown at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France
×