liz truss x priti patel: the complete story

20. September-October 2021

"I'm speaking out against it the first chance I get." Liz warned the Chief Whip, as she headed to a briefing about the proposed tax rise ahead of a cabinet meeting two days later. Furious, she spoke up.

"Putting up National Insurance would be morally, economically and politically wrong. After all that's happened in the last 18 months they can't seriously be thinking about a tax raid on supermarket workers and nurses so the children of Surrey homeowners can receive bigger inheritances. It makes a total mockery of the levelling-up agenda. That's before you even get to the fact that a couple of years ago we promised not to do it!" She argued, with uncharacteristic eloquence.

Her colleagues were astounded, and by the next morning, her words were attributed to an anonymous minister on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph.

"She's going to resign over this." Boris told an advisor. "We need to think of a way to rein her in."

That day, Liz was given a tip by a fellow minister, who was particularly close to the PM.

"A big promotion is coming your way. Don't go overboard."

"I've made clear how against this I am. I'm going to make my point in cabinet."

"Look Liz," He started harshly. "You're going to get a massive job in two weeks time. Politely, you'd be advised to shut the fuck up."

The morning of the meeting came, and Liz was nowhere to be seen. The cabinet was in shambles, questions of "has she resigned?" as Priti sat in disbelief that Liz hadn't informed her. They called her office repeatedly, hands shaking, the whole room in confusion. Until finally, she marched into the meeting 15 minutes in, merely having been running late. As she arrived, the room became tense.

"This is a mistake." She said sternly, turning to Rishi who began to squirm in his seat. "First of all, we promised not to raise taxes in our manifesto. OBR forecasts change by tens of billions every week, so why on earth are we doing this now? It only raises the burden on people and we shouldn't be doing that. We are the party of low taxes. We're just putting a target on our back."

"I agree completely with everything you've just said." Boris said.

"Great." Liz said bitterly.

"But there's no other way to pay for the funding."

"I am genuinely shocked if anyone thinks borrowing is the answer." Rishi said, not used to being challenged.

Liz fumed as she left the meeting. How could Boris say he disagreed and then do it anyway? It was ridiculous, she thought, Rishi was bullying him into doing it. And, ministers had agreed with her in private, but they had said nothing. Even Priti had been silent. She sighed, thinking about the promotion she'd been told about, hoping it would all be worth it.

*

After the disaster of his last reshuffle and finally free of Cummings' influence, Boris knew now was the time to change things around. And this time, it would be drastic. He laughed to himself as he suddenly remembered the stories of Liz's behaviour in his absence. But then he thought further, seriously now. The public mood against Raab was falling, and Liz was popular amongst party members. And, as much as it had irritated their colleagues, he had admired Liz's interjection. He had an idea.

*

"Dom! How's it going?" Boris said cheerfully as Raab joined him in his office, trying to force his usual sinister smile as he knew he was about to receive bad news. "Dom I- I'm afraid I have some...hard news." Boris started carefully, genuinely afraid of his response. "I'm considering demoting you from foreign secretary." Dominic was blinking fast now, and visibly squirming.