Liz Truss accused of throwing her Chancellor 'under a bus'

The Prime Minister yesterday suggested the measure brought forward by Kwasi Kwarteng in his mini-budget was his decision, and said that the move was not discussed with other secretaries of state.

Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, who turned down a job in Liz Truss’s administration said the move demonstrated a lack of loyalty towards the Chancellor.

The plan to abolish the 45 per cent tax rate on incomes above £150,000 has caused disquiet amongst Tory backbenchers, with some questioning whether it sends the right message to a country struggling to pay bills during the cost of living crisis.

Ms Truss appeared to give Mr Kwarteng clear ownership of the move, saying they did not discuss the controversial plan with the wider Cabinet.

“No, no, we didn’t. It was a decision the Chancellor made,” she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.

Ms Dorries responded by tweeting that “one of” Boris Johnson’s “faults was that he could sometimes be too loyal”.

“However, there is a balance and throwing your Chancellor under a bus on the first day of conference really isn’t it,” she said.

Fingers crossed, she added, “things improve and settle down from now”.

Allies of the Chancellor downplayed suggestions of a rift forming between the Prime Minister and Mr Kwarteng over the policy.

A source close to Mr Kwarteng said: “While the Chancellor obviously makes all tax decisions, the Prime Minister and Kwasi are in lockstep on this.”

Ms Truss yesterday acknowledged that there were some mistakes over the mini-budget which caused unrest in the markets to the extent that the Bank of England was forced to intervene to avoid a run on pension funds.

She admitted that more could have been done in the lead-up to the announcement in order to prepare the ground and reassure the markets that they had a sound fiscal plan.

“I do want to say to people I understand their worries about what has happened this week,” she told the BBC.

“I do stand by the package we announced and I stand by the fact we announced it quickly, because we had to act.

“But I do accept we should have laid the ground better… I have learnt from that and I will make sure that in future we do a better job of laying the ground.”

In what has been a substantial departure from the 2019 Conservative manifesto on which the Tories were elected, Ms Truss defended her financial plan despite not having her own mandate from a general election.

She said people had voted for a “different future” in 2019, with hopes for investment in towns and cities, higher wages and economic growth.

“I’m not saying it’s not going to be difficult – we do face a very turbulent and stormy time – but it will deliver, it will deliver on the promises we made,” she said.

“I want to reassure people that we do have a very clear plan – first of all about how we are going to get through this winter with our energy plan but also how we are dealing with the issue of a slowing economy,” she added.