This week, just six days after the crisis broke over chancellor of the exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, prime minister Liz Truss made it crystal clear that there would be no turning back – the transformation of the economy towards neoliberal market fundamentalism would not be halted, still less reversed.
The surprise is not that she took this view but that anyone expected otherwise. After all, throughout the Tory leadership election campaign she had focused on the kind of economy she believed the country needed, and when she won the election and formed the government, those chosen for the Cabinet shared that vision. In addition, her key advisors at No 10 were almost all drawn from the right-wing think tanks, especially the groups based in the Tufton Street premises owned by businessman Richard Smith.
