Poor Liz Truss. As Clifford Hill predicted three months ago, near the beginning of the leadership race, “Whoever becomes Prime Minister of Britain will inherit a poisoned chalice of intensive difficulty and multiple challenges.” And a poisoned chalice it was indeed. Within two days of her premiership, the nation was rocketed into a period of mourning, as our dear late Queen passed away, followed by huge additional economic and political turmoil triggered by the mini-Budget.

Unprecedented times

Clearly Ms Truss has been unable to survive the poisoned chalice for long.

Without doubt, we are now very much in those times of shaking prophesied for long by Clifford in this magazine. Many have reflected on how the Queen’s passing signifies the removal of the hand of restraint which has been on this country, and we are beginning to truly feel the consequences of our turning away from God and his eternal laws.

We are beginning to truly feel the consequences of our turning away from God and his eternal laws.

These consequences have always been there, in reality, but they have built up to such an extent that they are now affecting the whole nation.

Of course, we’re not alone in this – much of the world seems to have undergone upheaval in recent times. But Liz Truss’s tenure as Prime Minister has been particularly chaotic – and disastrous for the Conservative party. 

Libertarian values

But what other spiritual dynamics have had an impact?

There was deep spiritual opposition to some of what Ms Truss stood for. Let’s look at the underlying strongly held beliefs that have underpinned her political life.

She is a strong libertarian. She believes that people should be free to make their own choices, on pretty much all matters. Some may have noticed her rejection of the plan put together by Jacob Rees-Mogg (not a politician known for his love of the ‘nanny state’!) to run a campaign to encourage businesses and householders to cut down on their energy use, a bit like the wartime ‘Dig for Britain’ campaign. The policy was utterly reasonable, but Ms Truss was so strongly opposed to telling people what they should do that she refused to allow it.

The PM’s desire for a low-tax, low-spend government as much as possible gets out of the way to allow people to make their own choice.

This libertarian instinct pertains also to the economy, with the PM’s desire for a low-tax, low-spend government, which, as much as possible, gets out of the way to allow people to make their own choices. This is what she was attempting to kickstart with the mini-Budget. Unfortunately (for her), she felt compelled to intervene in the markets through the energy price guarantee scheme, which was open-ended. The media speak of ‘unfunded tax-cuts’, but there is no such thing; it is a contradiction in terms. What was unfunded was the potentially limitless energy price discount.

Powerful opposition

Although her outlook was much favoured by Tory members, who selected her, this libertarian instinct went against the prevailing mood of the most of the population and, not least, Britain's financial markets.

How many problems faced by this country in recent years have brought up the question: ‘What is the government going to do about it?’ Pretty much every single one. People desire security more than freedom, insurance against everything that could go wrong. They want schools to ‘fix’ our children; social services to ‘fix’ our families; the welfare state to ‘fix’ our wages and pensions; the NHS to ‘fix’ our health (which we’ve taken so little care of, reckoning a pill will ‘fix’ what we’ve broken). There is a desire for authoritarianism across much of the population.

This libertarian instinct went against the prevailing mood of the vast majority of the population.

Boris, of course, was of a similar mind on some of the social libertarianism issues, though much less so on the economy. But he, too, was weak; his biggest downfall being his desire to please those around him. This essentially forced him into the position of ordering catastrophic lockdowns, which he extended way past their (arguable) usefulness, because that’s what polls showed the public wanted.

Liz tried to turn this authoritarian streak in the government around, but along with it came immense opposition from all quarters.

Let’s add to that the anti-woke messages that this government had tried to put across – again they are pushing against a strong spiritual force that is endeavouring to change the biblically-based moral values of this nation, already very much weakened, if barely alive. Her promotion of fracking and opening up gas reserves clashed with the climate change ideology that seeks to impoverish the world, based on an extreme ideology, rather than just carefully conserve and care for God’s creation. On top of that, Liz intended to move the British Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem – Hugh Kitson explains further the significance of this.

Essentially, she has been swept away by the sheer force of the ideological and spiritual battles raging across our nation.

They are pushing against a strong spiritual force that is endeavouring to change the biblically-based moral values of this nation, already very much weakened, if barely alive.

The need for prayer

There are many things that I could criticise about Liz’s government. But more than ever before, I feel that it is incumbent on us not to criticise, but to pray for our government. Liz Truss was in a battle the likes of which we haven’t seen for a long time. I for one would not like to have been standing in the PM’s shoes. And whoever now replaces her will face similar battles, the same poisoned chalice, alongside the mammoth financial challenges – though he or she may choose to ignore some of them.

Exodus 17 tells the story of the Israelites being under attack from the Amalekites. Moses lifted his hands, and for as long as he did, the battle went in the Israelites favour; when he lowered them, the battle turned. So Aaron and Hur held up his hands, and the battle was won.

While not a direct parallel to the current situation, the story resonates. Let us lift up our government in prayer as they choose yet another leader for their party and for the nation. Let us pray that they will be aware of the tide that is engulfing us, and do all in their ability to hold back what they can – though most of the responsibility rests with the people, and the Church. The challenges are immense and the shaking is ongoing. But through the faithful prayers of God’s people, some victories can yet be won.