Liz Truss was promising to govern as a neo-Thatcherite — but the UK financial establishment clearly preferred something else. She had her hand forced into sacking her Chancellor of the Exchequer [=the Treasury Secretary and de facto #2 in the gov’t] and neo-Thatcherite “brother in arms” Kwasi Kwarteng — he was replaced by the “realist” (or “One Nation Tory”) Jeremy Hunt.
To my astonishment, at the customary Prime Minister’s Q&A in the House of Commons, Truss had herself represented by the Leader of the Commons, her onetime rival for the leadership Penny Mordaunt. Truss supposedly was “on urgent business” — could be a lame excuse or totally genuine (I’m seeing a scene of a spy novel in my head, where the MI6 chief urgently requests a meeting to act on ‘hot’ intelligence).
Then the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a statement and fielded questions.
A video feed is here (and can be rewound):
The proceedings are quite interesting from a sociological perspective: quite civilized, yet watch for daggers at all times.
But I have the impression that Jeremy Hunt is now the de facto CEO, and Liz Truss has been promoted away to “Chairperson of the Board”.
On the other hand, the Telegraph got the following laconic WhatsApp message from a prominent Tory MP:
“Rishi PM. Hunt CX. Penny FS. And it’s a done deal.”
A less laconic version would be: “Rishi Sunak will be Prime Minister; Jeremy Hunt will remain Chancellor of the Exchequer; Penny Mordaunt will be Foreign Secretary; and it’s a done deal.”
Developing…
Spin, strangeness, and charm 
[…] See our previous coverage of the apparent “boardroom coup” against Truss. […]