The 'leftwing economic establishment' did not bring Liz Truss down. Reality did | Polly Toynbee

The former PM's confidence in her small state' formula remains undented. And her flailing party is all-too ready to share in the delusion

This soul-searching has not been easy," she writes. But though she looked everywhere, Liz Truss never found it. Instead, she found blame to scatter on everyone but herself for the havoc left by her 49 days: even ChatGPT would have written her 4,000-word non-apologia with more humanity and humility. Truss's attempt at resurrection would be easily dismissed, except that her hallucinations are rampant across her party: ideas not cauterised by searing confrontation with reality.

Though Truss was outlasted by a lettuce, let's reprise how she did such damage in so short a time: her mini-budget was more of a mini H-bomb. Within hours the pound plummeted and borrowing costs soared. When her chancellor proclaimed more was to come, gilt markets plunged and the Bank of England rushed in with a monster 65bn bailout. That has left some highly exposed defined benefit pensions missing billions and people with mortgages paying the price.