Liz Truss is a Boris Johnson tribute act – all bluster and deflection

Truss is trying to win votes in a leadership election, rather than trying to devise a workable policy for government, and she’s doing so in the most Johnsonian way possible, writes John Rentoul

She defended Johnson’s record on getting Brexit done, rolling out the vaccines and standing up to Putin (PA)

The Conservative hustings last night were in Darlington, a mile away from Charles Dodgson’s childhood home, Croft-on-Tees. So we went through the looking-glass where the Remainer becomes the Brexiteer and vice versa. And Liz Truss, who launched her leadership campaign as the change candidate, portrayed herself as the true preserver of the legacy of Boris Johnson.

She refused to accept that Johnson was responsible for his own downfall, agreeing with the shouts from the audience of party members that it was the fault of the media.

She defended Johnson’s record on getting Brexit done, rolling out the vaccines and standing up to Putin. But she also flattered Johnson by imitation, deflecting awkward questions by blustering and deliberate provocation. She is brilliant at the Dominic Cummings device of saying things that outrage non-Tories, but which generate adulation among a large part of the Tory membership.