Liz Truss resigned as prime minister yesterday after just five weeks in office. While she failed to deliver on the promises she made in her leadership campaign - Woman Alive’s deputy editor Jemimah Wright urges us not to focus on the failure but to pray that she meets with God within it.
Yesterday Liz Truss resigned. After 44 days of being prime minister of Great Britain. That will make her the shortest serving British PM in history (Interestingly, the previous shortest time served was by George Canning, who was prime minister for less than four months before his death in 1827.)
So, some would say Mary Elizabeth Truss, as prime minister, has been a massive failure. To be fair, as she pointed out in her resignation speech, she came into the job in difficult circumstances. She said: ”I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability. Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills. Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent.”
How will she respond to this national failure, especially when a YouGov poll ranked her as the least popular UK Prime Minister on record?
However, in her short time in office, she somehow managed to make things worse by defending a disastrous mini-budget that meant the Bank of England had to step in, and it was criticised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). After initial support, her reaction to the negative effect of the budget was to sack Kwasi Kwarteng, Chancellor of the Exchequer for but a moment.
Truss admitted her failure, in her speech yesterday she said: ”I recognise though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.” So, she said it herself, she failed. We move on. The conservatives look for a new leader and the murmurs of a general election rumble in the background.
But what will happen to Liz? How will she respond to this national failure, especially when a YouGov poll ranked her as the least popular UK Prime Minister on record? This year Truss was quoted as saying: ”I share the values of the Christian faith and the Church of England, but I’m not a regular practising religious person.”
My hope, is that in this exposing failure, she would come to share not only the values of the Christian faith, but a relationship with Jesus Christ.
My hope, is that in this exposing failure, she would come to share not only the values of the Christian faith, but a relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the one all of us can turn to in failure, however big (as in Truss’s situation) or small. When we fail publicly, it can affect our identity and sense of self-worth. But failure isn’t a mortal sin. Failure in many ways is impressive, as it means you tried.
In Jesus, we know there is hope for our failed lives, whether that means failure to lead the country, failure in our jobs, failure in relationships. We have to take responsibility for our part, but when we come to him in our failure, he can bring about a redemptive story. I wonder what the redemptive story will be for Truss? I believe that if she humbles herself and turns to Jesus in this time, then this colossal failure, could turn into a colossal win: the salvation of her soul.
So let’s not rebuke Liz Truss for her failure. Let’s pray that in her failure, she would humble herself, and find the God, who she says she respects, but does not yet know.
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