In August, Truss told the Daily Express that her daughters were "very excited" and Liberty "keeps asking would she be able to have sleepovers if I get into No 10". Low profile When he won a landslide victory in 2019 his relaxed relationship with the truth was already well known – but enough voters were willing to set that aside in return for his boosterism and Brexit promises, and because they didn’t like the alternative of Jeremy Corbyn.

What started as a slight polling deficit for the Tories became a gulf. Labour’s lead soared to more than 30 points and ministers privately began putting Truss on notice. The unravelling The mini-budget was pencilled in for Friday 23 September, the final sitting day of the Commons before recess. Labour’s autumn conference would begin two days later and Truss thought the statement would “blow them out of the water”, leaving the opposition facing uncomfortable questions about whether they would support this tax cut or that. Material: 100% organic ringspun combed cotton with the words Liz Truss’s Economic Policy in a colour to contrast with your choice of T-shirt. Jeremy Hunt was asked to take the job. Normally affable, on this occasion he was solemn – he requested that no pictures of him smiling be released by in-house government photographers. Hunt was now running the show, and Truss’s supporters felt the entire policy platform on which she had entered No 10 was about to be ripped to shreds.

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In contrast, her leadership rival Rishi Sunak made “restoring trust” one of the key planks of his campaign, and repeatedly said that would only be achieved by being honest with the public about the economic pain ahead. During her Tory leadership campaign Truss said the girls, who reportedly attend state schools, were actively involved behind the scenes. As she was driven towards No 10 on the last leg of her round trip, the car made several detours to wait for a break in the rain in which Truss could make a speech, while a bin bag was temporarily used to protect the waiting, sodden podium. Robert Halfon went one step further and directly blamed Truss for trashing the Conservative party brand. The unhappiness of the parliamentary party was becoming increasingly stark, emboldening MPs to think the unthinkable: that they might be about to defenestrate a second prime minister in just over a month.

His hubristic handling of a series of self-inflicted scandals over the last year – Owen Paterson, Partygate and Chris Pincher – left his integrity fatally wounded and public trust even more diminished. This last measure had been discussed by Truss and Kwarteng over the summer, but they had not intended to announce it so soon. Truss was keen to use the honeymoon period that she thought would be afforded to them to “go big”, but there was disbelief among Tory MPs when the details emerged. In recent decades politicians, not least because of Tory sleaze in the 1990s and the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009, have enjoyed less than the full confidence of the public. The couple met at a Conservative Party conference and Liverpool-born O'Leary stood unsuccessfully to become a Tory councillor. My kids were one and four when I was elected (MP in 2010) so I always say they haven't known any different," she told the newspaper.

Immediately after that mess had unfurled in parliament, half the parliamentary party drifted across to a reception to mark the 100th anniversary of the Carlton Club. Swilling champagne at the private members’ club situated on the edge of Mayfair, each peered at their phones for updates on the government’s imminent collapse.