The Tory MPs who fear a swing to the right under Liz Truss

Moderate Conservatives are worried that a Truss premiership will fail to connect with the country as a whole, writes Kate Devlin

Truss is an admirer of Margaret Thatcher (AFP/Getty)

After a lengthy leadership contest Tory MPs are now nervously awaiting the outcome of the next few days to see if they can discern the shape of their, and our, new government.

Some fear the Truss administration will mark a lurch to the right. The frontrunner to win the keys to No 10 does not want to unite her party, one former minister told me this week, she wants to be tribal and be seen as the darling of her faction.

As ever, MPs worry what that could mean for their prospects at the next general election. Politicians like to joke it is hard to underestimate how soon they will start campaigning for re-election. But with the clock ticking, the next polling day is not far from anyone’s mind.