BIRMINGHAM: Prime Minister Liz Truss vowed to steer the UK “through the tempest” as she closed her party’s tumultuous annual conference on Wednesday, making an unapologetic pitch for economic “growth, growth, growth”.

Just a month since she succeeded Boris Johnson, Truss has alienated voters, financial markets and many in the ruling Conservative party with a crash programme of debt-fuelled tax cuts to boost Britain’s stagnant economy.

But Truss argued in her speech that the status quo was not an option, despite the botched rollout of her fiscal plan leading to a humiliating U-turn on a pledge to cut income tax for the highest earners.

“In these tough times, we need to step up,” she told delegates, taking aim at what she said was an “anti-growth coalition” holding back attempts to revive the economy.

“I’m determined to get Britain moving, to get us through the tempest and put us on a stronger footing as a nation,” she added, mentioning the word “growth” 27 times during the speech.

Despite only being leader for exactly a month, Truss’s calamitous start, with a 10-day hiatus because of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, has already seen her fighting to keep her job.

Former minister Grant Shapps, who supported Truss’s leadership rival Rishi Sunak, said she could face a no-confidence vote by MPs if the keynote speech fails to start reviving the party’s dismal standing in opinion polls.

“In the end, I don’t think members of parliament, Conservatives, if they see the polls continue as they are, are going to sit on their hands,” he told Times Radio.

“A way would be found to make that change.” The speech wasn’t without its hiccups, with protesters holding a Greenpeace banner saying “who voted for this?” disrupting the prime minister around 15 minutes into her message.

Truss’s critics, including allies of Johnson, have accused her of lacking a national mandate for her unpopular reforms after she won the Tory leadership. But she insisted Britain needed to “do things differently”, with no time for “more drift and delay”. “Whenever there is change, there is disruption. Not everyone will be in favour.

“But everyone will benefit from the result — a growing economy and a better future,” she said.

‘Keep faith’

It remains to be seen whether the speech has the effect 10 Downing Street wants.

Truss’s media interviews in the build-up to Wednesday focussed unrelentingly on the U-turn she and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng were forced to stage on the signature element of their reform overhaul. Cabinet splits emerged in Birmingham on indications that despite the impact of the crisis on the poor, the pair will next cut welfare benefits.

Truss denied she had lost control of her cabinet after putting on a show of unity with the beleaguered Kwarteng on a visit to a construction site in Birmingham on Tuesday.

“We are working with our MPs, this is a team, this Conservative team, putting forward our policies for the country and delivering for the country,” she told ITV.

But there was little team spirit on display from Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who accused party critics of seeking to stage a “coup” against Truss.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2022