Is Librium Liz a delusional narcissist or just disastrously dim? | John Crace

The ongoing bin fire of Truss's premiership leaves her cabinet floundering, incoherent and riven by remorse

There have been more welcoming greetings. When Liz Truss met the King at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday evening for their weekly get-together, the first thing Charles said to her was Dear oh dear". The sort of thing he normally says when told Prince Harry has signed another book deal, or that Prince Andrew has agreed to give another interview to Emily Maitlis. Still, he could have been speaking for all of us. And on the plus side, he did refrain from saying WTF".

Where the conversation went from there we can only imagine, as the cameras were hastily removed. But it's more than likely that Librium Liz went on to tell him that everything was going to plan and the economy was in line for record growth in time for his coronation next May. And that she had totally nailed prime minister's questions earlier in the day, had received a standing ovation from her backbenchers at the 1922 Committee and the opinion polls had given her a 25-point lead.