World
New British Leader Gambles Big to Save Ailing Economy
Liz Truss tries to slash taxes and regulations, and emulate her political hero Margaret Thatcher.
S BY JOHN GIZZI
eptember was a month most Britons will never forget. Within a space of three days, the nation that prides
itself on centuries of enduring tradi- tion suddenly found itself with a new king and a new prime minister. On Sept. 6, Liz Truss became the
15th head of government appointed by the ailing Queen Elizabeth II, 96. The picture of the queen greeting
Truss was the last photograph of the United Kingdom’s longest-serving monarch. Two days later she was dead, and her eldest son Charles had become king. With Britain’s economy staggering
in the aftermath of COVID-19 and Brexit — its exit from the European Union as well as from inflation and
high debt — expectations are muted for Truss. But the woman who took over 10
Downing St. from the colorful Boris Johnson has no intention of simply being a placeholder until the next gen- eral in two years’ time. Truss sees herself as the incarna-
tion of her political heroine, Margaret Thatcher, or possibly a British version of Ronald Reagan. Her new government is gambling
on taxes and deregulation to jump- start the economy. Critics charge she is reverting to the trickle-down theory of the Reagan administration. “Liz Truss’s Selective Reaganomics
Won’t Work,” blared a headline in The Economist in mid-September, critical- ly likening the new prime minister’s just-unveiled economic manifesto to
that of the 40th U.S. president in 1981. At the center of what the Financial
Times calls Trussonomics is an end to corporate tax increases, ruling out a windfall profits levy on energy com- panies, and rolling back regulations of what Thatcherites like to characterize as “the nanny state.” Put another way, Truss wants to
keep government out of the way unless it is absolutely needed. For the first time in British his-
tory, none of the four offices of state — prime minister, foreign secretary, chancellor of the exchequer, and home secretary — are held by a white male. But lest the diversity be deceiving,
all of them and most of their fellow members of the Truss Cabinet are from the decided right of the Conser- vative Party — to a person commit- ted to deregulation and devolution of authority. Truss, herself a former trade sec- retary, will be closely watched by the
In terms of foreign policy, Truss has already signaled her desire to stick firmly with Ukraine against President Putin’s Russia.
LIZ TRUSS | Prime Minister 52 NEWSMAX | NOVEMBER 2022
JAMES CLEVERLY | Foreign Secretary
YVETTE COOPER | Home Secretary
KWASI KWARTENG |
TRUSS/AP IMAGES / CLEVERLY/DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES / KWARTENG/JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES COOPER/PETER BYRNE/PA IMAGES VIA GETTY IMAGES
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