Liz Truss' waning power brings political plots, and jokes

LONDON (AP) — Powerless, humiliated, labeled a “ghost” prime minister and compared unfavorably to a head of lettuce — this is not a good week for Liz Truss.

Britain’s prime minister was scrambling to recover her grasp on power Tuesday after her economic plans were ripped up and repudiated by a Treasury chief whom she was forced to appoint to avoid meltdown on the financial markets.

Truss remains in office, for now, largely because her Conservative Party is divided over how to replace her.

In a bid at business as usual, Truss held a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, where, her spokesman said, there was an “in-depth discussion” of the new economic plan, and no one asked her to resign.

Truss also met lawmakers from rival Conservative factions, arguing that keeping her in post can provide stability, even though she has had to ditch almost the entire prospectus on which she was elected party leader just six weeks ago.

Chastened but defiant, Truss acknowledged Monday that “mistakes were made” — but insisted she would lead the Conservatives into the next national election.

Few believe that. Britain’s lively, partisan press is unusually united in the opinion that Truss is doomed. The Conservative-backing tabloid The Sun called her “a ghost PM” and said “for the sake of the country, we cannot go on like this.” The left-leaning Guardian compared the Conservatives to a mutinous ship’s crew, saying “Truss has not left her party. But it appears to have left her.”

After The Economist said Truss’ time in control of the government — before the Sept. 23 “mini-budget” that set the markets aflame — was “roughly the shelf-life of a lettuce,” the tabloid Daily Star set up a livestream featuring a photo of the prime minister beside a head of...