Politics is largely a question of judgment and, often, comes down to choosing between the lesser of bad options.
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is about to discover how unforgiving politics, and her own party, will be over poor decision-making with her pursuit of tax cuts for growth.
The prime minister’s authority is ebbing quicker than the painful eight months her predecessor Boris Johnson endured before his exit from Downing street.
In Westminster’s corridors the almost facetious suggestion after the party conference debacle that a coronation of Rishi Sunak as the new leader was possible is no longer an inane aside.
Three weeks of market turmoil after Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s breath-taking gamble of a mini-budget has rinsed the Tory’s reputation of sound economic management.
Now Ms Truss and her chancellor are watching the economic tornado they unleashed swirl round back devastatingly towards them.
The greatest error was that they went ahead with the unfunded tax cuts despite very direct warnings about the consequences.
What is so worrying about Ms Truss’s judgment is that she relied upon the maverick economic ideology of Prof Patrick Minford, 79.
It was his name she coyly raised during a BBC interview, arguing that cutting taxes would lead to growth despite the interest rate danger.
Mr Sunak, a multimillionaire former chancellor with a strong City CV, pounced on her poor economic grammar, stating that her tax bonanza would amount to a £40 billion ($45.1bn) shortfall, rate increases and that tackling inflation was key to fiscal responsibility.
He continued campaigning for sensible economics, which had wide appeal to the British public but not to the 180,000 Tory membership voting for the next leader.
Entrusting Britain’s future, and more particularly the Conservative Party’s, to the membership’s judgment is no longer a proposition.
There are now a lot of senior and experienced Conservatives on the backbenches ― the result of another questionable decision by Ms Truss to freeze out nearly all Mr Sunak’s backers from government posts.
It is these grandees who it now appears are making the running to unseat the occupants of Downing Street and rapidly replace them with the pairing of Mr Sunak and the much respected Penny Mordaunt, who between them had support of more than two thirds of MPs in the leadership contest.
Ms Truss's survival depends on her actions in the coming hours. A U-turn on slashing corporation tax from 25 per cent to 19 per cent along with a reversal on one other of her giveaways should be enough to satisfy the market’s distress at what actually amounted to £60 billion in unfunded tax cuts.
Whether Mr Kwarteng survives that shredding of his economic reputation will be known in days, if not hours.
He, alongside his leader, may limp on to the fiscal announcement of 31 October but events may well overtake them.
“There is an irony to this,” said the former home secretary Priti Patel. “In that market forces will probably dictate some of these changes now.”
Stability was “crucial” for the markets and British people, she said.
Alicia Kearns, from a different wing of the party, mirrored her thoughts while attacking Ms Truss’s suggestion that there was an “anti-growth coalition” among left-wingers.
“The markets are not left,” she said. “The fact they have been spooked, is something that should be taken incredibly seriously.”
Also spooked are vast numbers of Tories fearful of annihilation in the next general election, purportedly in two years but could come much sooner.
Barely 40 days with a new leader, the timid discussions in Westminster have now become entirely telescopic in their focus for a change at the top.
Under that scrutiny Ms Truss's judgment will need to be exceptional if she is to surpass George Canning’s tenure of 119 days in office as the shortest serving prime minister.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Arabian Gulf Cup FINAL
Al Nasr 2
(Negredo 1, Tozo 50)
Shabab Al Ahli 1
(Jaber 13)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Defence
General Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Agency
Political Security Directorate
Syrian National Security Bureau
Military Intelligence Directorate
Army Supply Bureau
General Organisation of Radio and TV
Al Watan newspaper
Cham Press TV
Sama TV
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.
Brief scores:
Barcelona 3
Pique 38', Messi 51 (pen), Suarez 82'
Rayo Vallecano 1
De Tomas Gomez 24'
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