To adapt the resonant phrase in the King James Bible (and often deployed at moments such as this): Greater love hath no woman than this, that she should lay down her friends for her life.
Liz Truss has bought a little time with her decision to jettison her chancellor. To save her own premiership, she has sacrificed her most senior minister. She has appointed a man, Jeremy Hunt, who, it must be assumed, stands for everything Ms Truss disdains. If Ms Truss is a radical disrupter, then Mr Hunt is exactly the kind of orthodox centre-right figure she had in mind for a bit of shaking about. It remains to be seen what kind of political marriage this odd couple will forge. It was not made in heaven but in the chaos of the capital markets; but you never know.
For the time being at least, the prime minister has indeed saved her political life, but at some considerable cost to herself, and with rather more damage inflicted on her old friend, soulmate and ally, Kwasi Kwarteng. He is, though, far from an innocent party in this farce. It was his sheer, unnecessary arrogance that led to much of the mess.
