Radon Liz romps home in a pyrrhic victory | John Crace

Tory MPs' hopes of Truss's transformation into a plausible leader were dashed by her robotic acceptance speech

O brave new world, that has such people in't. Or not. William Shakespeare clearly had never imagined a clusterfuck on this scale. Given the state of the country right now, he would be in need of a long lie down. It would take more than a few prayerful tweets from Justin Welby to sort this one out.

On the road outside the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre, a few environmental protesters glued themselves together while Steve Bray competed with a group of evangelists to provide a backing track. Some things never change. Just inside the main entrance, James Cleverly held court. The meeter and greeter with a smile for everyone. A man at peace with himself. Someone who knew he had backed the right horse.