Ten Years to Save the West by Liz Truss review – economical with the truth about her own downfall

The former PM's whingeing, unintentionally hilarious and scapegoating rant about the economy-crashing disaster of her time in No 10 is best read as a cautionary tale of hubristic zeal

Three people, none of them the author, emerge from this book looking prophetic. One is her constituency agent in Norfolk. Told she is thinking about running for the Tory leadership, he tells Liz Truss it would be for the best if she lost. Another is her husband, Hugh. He faithfully backs the tilt at No 10, but predicts that her prime ministership will all end in tears". The third prescient person is the late queen, who concludes the formalities appointing Truss as prime minister with the warning: Pace yourself."

Maybe I should have listened," muses the author, one of the very few acknowledgments she offers to the reader that she might have got the odd thing wrong.