Neale Hanvey:  Liz Truss makes Boris Johnson look like a safe pair of hands

He had vision, integrity, outstanding skills and a tremendous work ethic but he always sought to bring out the best in his leadership team; a collaborative and inspirational leader.

For obvious reasons such qualities are invaluable in the NHS – lives really do depend on it.

Of course not every leadership role carries life and death responsibility, but leading a country most certainly does.

So it’s not unreasonable to expect a Prime Minister to consider carefully the potential consequences of grand decisions in consultation and collaboration with her top team. If you agree with this, you’re no doubt disappointed at best, or more likely outraged at the past few weeks of utter calamity from this novice PM.

Liz Truss’ often faltering performances as a minister and leadership contender have never inspired much confidence.

As Foreign Secretary she utterly failed to respond to my urgent appeals on behalf of the Kirkcaldy family of Jim Fitton when he was unjustly arrested and imprisoned in Iraq.

However, in less then a week as Prime Minster Ms Truss has done the unthinkable, she has made her predecessor, Boris Johnson, look like a safe pair of hands – crikey!

Over the past weekend and into Monday it became apparent that the PM and her equally inexperienced chancellor have still not grasped the enormous impact of their disastrous ‘mini budget’.

The pound collapsed, around a thousand mortgage products had to be withdrawn, property values fell by up to 20%, property sales have ground to a halt, interest rates will have to be increased and £65 billion was spent by the Bank of England to avert a run on the pound.

Yet on Sunday I watched in horror as PM Truss admitted she had not discussed her plans with anyone other than her chancellor and she continued to insist hers was a smart economic strategy.

Of course by Monday the jig was up and the u-turn on handouts to the wealthy was made.

This preposterous attempt to avoid accountability at the Tory party conference won’t erase her staggeringly poor judgement.

So-called Trussenomics have taken economic incompetence, greed and cruelty to new heights.

And don’t forget Scottish Tories were demanding the Scottish Government implement the same outrageous tax cuts for the wealthy too.

I wouldn’t trust them to look after a goldfish. Why on earth should we tolerate them running Scotland?