Liz Truss tried to turn the page on the troubled start to her premiership with a punchy speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.
The PM cut a confident figure as she strutted onto the stage to rapturous applause from the gathered party members and M People's Moving On Up — although she was interrupted by Greenpeace protesters holding a 'Who Voted For This?' banner. (Truss joked they were part of the nationwide 'anti-growth coalition' she has promised to stand up to.)
She promised 'we'll make it easier to afford childcare' and insisted her Health Secretary Therese Coffey would slash GP appointment waiting times to two weeks, urgent care waiting times to same day and 'clear the Covid backlog'.
In a speech that lasted just over half an hour — half the duration of Keir Starmer's Liverpool Party address last week— Truss said she vowed to 'forge ahead with her difficult but necessary mission' adding the 'status quo is not an option. She also confirmed that she had no current plans to reinstate the controversial 45p tax cut included in her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget, saying, 'I get it. I've listened.'
Detail on policies she plans to deliver was light — how will she bring down childcare costs exactly?— but the speech did serve as a reset after a stormy start that has seen the value of the pound plummet and mortgage rates soar, and a reminder of all this new Prime Minister says she really is.
'I've juggled my career with raising two wonderful daughters,' she said, bringing a personal touch. 'I know how it feels to have your potential dismissed by those who think they know better. I remember as a young girl being presented on a plane with a junior air hostess badge. Meanwhile my brothers were given junior pilot badges. It wasn't the only time in my life that I've been treated differently for being female and for not fitting in. It made me angry and it made me determined. determined to change things so other people didn't feel the same way.'