Rishi Sunak may be the clever person’s choice, but former high commissioner to the United Kingdom George Brandis writes Britain’s Conservative true believers are likely to choose Liz Truss to replace Boris Johnson as PM | OPINION
It is looking increasingly likely that Britain’s next prime minister will be Liz Truss. The foreign secretary, having edged out her rival Penny Mordaunt, will nowWhile Sunak won hands down in the successive elimination votes among Tory MPs, the race now changes in an important way.
Remember when John Howard described Kim Beazley as having “no ticker”? Did Malcolm Turnbull ever recover from Peta Credlin’s dismissal of him as “mister harbourside mansion”? Voters already suspected Beazley was indecisive. They certainly knew Turnbull was very wealthy. While neither of those attributes was a political asset, they were not a major problem either, until the lethally crafted verbal arrow distilled a nascent public misgiving and defined its target for ever after.
Liz Truss is a favourite among those people. She reaches them in a way that Rishi Sunak can’t. They can relate to her – familiar, friendly, likeable. Just like them. She is the girl next door. Not too glamorous. Not quite as smart as Rishi, but perfectly smart enough.
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