Mark Field, a former Conservative MP, has divulged the intimate details of an 18-month affair with Liz Truss, the UK’s shortest-serving Prime Minister, whose political tenure imploded in just 49 days. In reflecting on their relationship for the first time, Field admits that the affair played a role in his first marriage’s demise. Now aged 60, Field served as the MP for Cities of London and Westminster from 2001 until 2019.

Field recounted that their relationship ignited during the Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth in October 2002, shortly after Truss had married her husband, Hugh O’Leary. His initial contact was ostensibly professional; he extended support for her ambitions, suggesting, “Please get in touch if I can be of any help.”

Describing Truss as “an impulsive bundle of energy, obsessed by the workings and machinations of politics,” Field highlights a troubling pattern that characterizes her political career. Their ostensibly professional exchanges quickly morphed into a deeper connection, one that reflected a broader disillusionment with a party that has strayed from its foundational principles. As their interactions increased, Field found her “intoxicating, disconcerting and exhausting” yet also “utterly infuriating” at times, mirroring the frustrations felt by voters witnessing Truss’s reckless political maneuvers, ultimately culminating in her disastrous premiership.

In his memoirs, serialized in the Daily Mail, Field paints a picture of their relationship marked by “manic” energy, secrecy, and a palpable sense of anticipation. He captures the thrill of their meetings, often tinged with guilt and tension as both were married. “Every three or four months, beset by what I took to be a mixture of guilt and indecision, Liz would try to cool things down,” Field reflects, underscoring a pattern of instability emblematic of her time in office.

As Field observed Truss’s political career unfold, he noted her “limitless ambition and self-belief,” traits that led her to the highest office. Yet, he was scathing in his assessment of her leadership, asserting that “her entire decade-long ministerial career had been an object lesson in relentlessly talking a good game… but actually delivering next to nothing.” Field’s bleak expectations for her premiership were prescient; he told a friend in August 2022, “The likeliest scenario is that Liz’s tenure will be calamitous,” a warning now echoed by countless critics of the Labour government that has taken the reins amid an increasingly chaotic landscape.

Truss officially resigned on 25 October 2022, after facing economic turmoil and plummeting approval ratings. In the wake of her departure, she has sought the company of right-wing figures in the United States, yet the turbulence she left behind continues to haunt the country as Labour’s grip on power exacerbates the underlying issues.

Field’s closing assessment of Truss’s leadership capabilities is chilling. He critiques her “grand plan to cut taxes and slash public expenditure,” positing that it failed to account for the realities of an ageing UK population increasingly reliant on state support. Furthermore, he reflects on her persistent mantra of “growth, growth, growth,” which crumbled under scrutiny for its lack of a credible implementation strategy. The ramifications of her short-lived government now cloud the horizon, leaving opposition voices rising in defiance against a Labour regime that shows little indication of addressing the very issues that continue to afflict the nation.

Source: Noah Wire Services