Rishi Sunak will “listen” to Liz Truss, Downing Street has said, but would not say if the prime minister had read his predecessor’s 4,000 word defence of her time in office.
In a lengthy article for the The Sunday Telegraph, Truss blamed a “powerful economic establishment” for the market chaos which ultimately doomed her brief premiership.
Truss claimed her government was made a “scapegoat” for pre-existing problems out of her control.
Among those at fault, she said, were Joe Biden, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Tory MPs and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Asked if Sunak valued Truss’ “contribution” to the political debate, the PM’s spokesperson said: “Of course the prime minister will listen to all former prime ministers.
“But you have seen he has set out his priorities for country and he is working hard on those.”
The spokesperson added that Sunak’s No.10 did “value the scrutiny of independent bodies like the OBR” ahead of the Budget due in March.
“They will have a role in proving independent, credible and high quality analysis,” the spokesperson said.
“We are making the fiscal decisions to get inflation down which in turn will let us grow the economy.”
Asked about the article, the prime minister’s spokesperson said they did not know if Sunak had read it.
When he took office in October, Sunak promised voters he would fix the “mistakes” made by Truss.
Truss’ decision not to release an OBR analysis of her September mini-Budget - which axed the 45p rate of tax - was credited with triggering some of the turmoil in the markets.
It is not just Truss who is causing a headache for Sunak, in recent days Boris Johnson has also made a series of public interventions, largely calling for more assistance for Ukraine.