For a politician who is constantly banging on about her ability to “deliver”, Liz Truss has remarkably little to show for her 10 years as a minister, with eight of those at the top table under three prime ministers. She is the longest continuously serving member of the current cabinet.
Few could name any of her jobs in government, apart from her present role as foreign secretary, and fewer still could identify any action she took that noticeably changed the lives of the British people. Indeed, in an old satirical phrase, she has apparently “risen without trace”, such has been her phantom-like ascent to high – and likely soon the highest – elected office.
However, as foreign secretary, it is probably fair to say she put more effort into the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe than either of her immediate predecessors, Dominic Raab and Boris Johnson (the latter of whom actually made matters worse for Nazanin with some foolish remarks about the reason for her presence in Iran). Truss is also pushing the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill through parliament, though it’s not something to be especially proud of and could have been done by any halfway competent frontbencher.
