Her critics cannot understand her appeal and display all the classic signs of a delusional ruling class that no longer likes or understands half its country. The Twitter mob is already displaying the full symptoms of Truss Derangement Syndrome, as even a cursory scroll through the antics of our cultural elites immediately reveals. Just like the allergic reaction once triggered by Brexit, TDS is an irrationally irrational overreaction caused among the same class of people who wanted us to stay in the EU whenever they see or hear the Foreign Secretary – and especially when he announces a Conservative or Liberal policy market that will disrupt the status quo. They recoil in disgust, obsess over her supposedly gauche ways, dismiss what she says with indifference, and destroy even her most modest suggestions. There were several stages to the initiation of TDS. First, when it became clear that Truss was emerging as the frontrunner, the reaction was one of confusion, hilarity and joy: those silly Tories have really done it this time, handing the election to Labour! Then, as she began to unveil her bid, there was an outpouring of support for Rishi Sunak from people who would never dream of voting Tory. We are now in the third stage, with anger, rage and extreme, disproportionate rage at her insolence, her audacity, her unorthodox positions, combined with almost astonishing levels of complacency: how dare she ask for more secondary schools or an improved remittance for the Bank of England? How stupid! Doesn’t he know that smart people have already looked into it and rejected it? The electorate will hate such ideas, won’t they? Won’t he? There will no doubt be an even uglier, more unpleasant fourth stage, triggered if and when he starts to score higher than Labor in the polls, and especially if he manages to break the 40% support threshold. This will be met by all-out war and a hysterical, endless commitment to its extermination, reminiscent of the scorched-earth campaign that accompanied the Brexit battles in the dying days of the May government. The truth will no longer matter: it will be a case of the ends justifying the means to stop Truss at any cost. Everything he says will be slammed by intellectuals, academics, pressure groups and left-wing commentators. every little misfortune is magnified. any non-leftist idea portrayed as monstrously unfair. If he keeps Northern Ireland steady, the twice-arrest crowd will side with Brussels. TDS is closely linked to a number of strange emotional pathologies to which the British centre-left has succumbed. Behind the boosters versus busts debate – the argument between those who believe better policies can save Britain’s lethargic economy and those who fear little can realistically be done – is a feeling among some of the latter that Britain it doesn’t deserve to succeed. We must be punished: we voted for Brexit and then Boris, so failure is our just desert. This is why we are told that raising corporation tax would make no difference to our competitiveness – although, of course, it is supposed to be demagogic to cut taxes to attract capital. Then there’s the closely related Candide plot, after Voltaire’s satirical novella: the silly idea, first floated by Treasury Remainers in 2016, that all is already for the best in this best of all worlds. Tax is very good, as is regulation, as is the Civil Service, as is the NHS: in fact, some even insist that deregulation would be a disaster, robbing businesses of the stability they need. Only re-entry into the single market, apparently the only potential driver of growth, would make a difference: all other reforms are irrelevant, or so goes the flawed argument. His supporters do not realize the levels of public anger with our economic and social performance, with the state of Britain, and therefore risk fatally underestimating the appeal of a ‘candidate for change’. Last but not least, London’s self-consciously egalitarian, progressive elites make an exception for right-wing Tory women: the exaggerated nature of some of the attacks on Truss is clearly partly due to an abhorrent misogyny. with snobbery against the North. Even Johnson was not treated with so much contempt, so much derision, so much malice. The challenges facing a PM Truss would be enormous. Quite apart from the disorders of the TDS fanatics, it is fair to question whether he could muster the operational and managerial skills required to turn around a sinking supertanker. The next prime minister must bring about urgent, radical changes to institutions as well as policies: clever PR will be only a small part of this. Her campaign’s curious accident about regional pay boards – a good, necessary idea – was not promising. It will require extreme discipline, resilience and focus, as well as the ability to recruit great advisors. Dozens of new policies will be required to jump-start growth and productivity. I’ve known Truss since 2008 and am cautiously optimistic. Comparisons to the Iron Lady may be inappropriate, but there is an illuminating historical parallel. Many dismissed Margaret Thatcher in the early 1970s. As education secretary, her opposition to understanding was disappointingly bland. It ensured that it was no longer compulsory for councils to convert all schools to comprehensives, but this only slowed down the carnage. He didn’t defeat the Blob, and only saved 94 secretarial schools, allowing hundreds to be vandalized. He wasted too much political capital ending free school milk, a small cost-cutting measure. A similar performance today would see centre-right critics writing Thatcher off in despair. Few would have predicted how big her role would become, and Truss supporters hope she too will eventually turn into a formidable leader. Her detractors, blinded by the jerk syndrome, can’t even fathom the possibility that this could be right. They will rue the day they underestimated her so completely.
