On 6 th September, 2022, Liz Truss was sworn into office. This was an incredibly historic example for the United Kingdom. This significant event took place at Balmoral Castle, where she became the first female Prime Minister to be photographed with Queen Elizabeth II. As the Queen herself said, her whole life was devoted to public service. Tragically she died just days later leaving this photograph of the two of them together as the last ever taken of her.
Unsurprisingly, Truss’s short stop to Balmoral was historic, but not just for her. She retook the helm at the agency in a period of enormous turmoil. The painters’ photograph of the art unveiling captures the moment the proud new owners posed in front of their fireplace, flanked by the firefighters. Today this image has huge symbolic power in British history. Truss’s tenure was marked by challenges, including economic turbulence and international relations, which she had to navigate from her very first day in office.
As Prime Minister, Truss found herself under the microscope almost from the start, after a negative economic prediction from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The grim forecast pointed to more pain for an economy already reeling from the self-inflicted economic calamity of Brexit. Truss stepped up to that challenge with her pledge. Simultaneously, she needed to bring stability to the economy while riding a wave of inflation and continued revived global tumult.
During her short time in office, Truss faced the consequences of tariffs enacted by former US President Donald Trump. The tariffs hit swathes of the UK economy, increasing the strain on her leadership. In fact, she was recently featured in the same articles as JD Vance, the newly installed US Vice-President. She crucially failed to engage in negotiations with Trump, who had just days earlier been golfing with Vance.
The culture war that took center stage during her brief tenure as Prime Minister made things even more complicated. Though details about this ongoing conflict were not shared publicly, it represented the rift in British societal norms and political activism. Birmingham Conservative MP and fellow politician Kemi Badenoch was instrumental in shaping the outcome of the latter and equally cultural war affair. The media failed to link her with Truss.
Truss’s leadership has already been overshadowed by a string of public conflicts, including one between Truss and Catholic scholar and senator JD Vance and the pope himself. The specifics of these disputes remain murky. They underscore the messy reality of international relations and the domestic political firestorm that Truss is currently weathering.
Generally speaking, within this special context, Truss’s tenure as Prime Minister has been one characterized by balancing pressures at home and abroad. Yet the convergence of unfavorable economic forecasts, widening American cultural divides and growing geopolitical tension around the world have added to her leadership challenge.
“The pope was a good guy,” – Donald Trump