A heavy burden of responsibility falls immediately upon the shoulders of any new prime minister, often causing a silent quiver of nerves. For Liz Truss, self doubt does not form part of her lexicon.
People who have met her in recent days say she is relishing the ride and is brimming with self-confidence.
But even the UK’s new prime minister might admit in private that what she describes as “eye-watering” energy bills will present her with a hefty challenge, unprecedented since her hero Margaret Thatcher assumed office nearly half a century ago.
When Lady Thatcher moved into Downing Street in 1979, the country had a good idea of their new prime minister. She had been leader of the opposition for four years.
While Truss has been a cabinet minister for eight years, she has had a lower profile than Thatcher. And even those who know the foreign secretary are wondering what instincts she will follow.
Will we see the return to the fore of the pragmatist who moved seamlessly from the Remain camp to the warm embrace of the Brexiteers? Or will she govern in the mode of her leadership campaign – a lady not for turning, in the words of Thatcher, who will focus on tax cuts?
Over the past few days, BBC Newsnight has been speaking to people who know Truss to assess whether her past can tell us about her future. The consensus seems to be that we will see Liz Truss turning to both sides of her political past to guide her thinking.
Over the weekend Truss announced that within a week of taking office, she will outline an emergency plan to help people with those energy bills. But in a “fiscal event” later this month, her new chancellor will outline a “broader package” that will hold fast to her campaign pledges.
Baroness Morgan of Cotes, who entered parliament with Truss in 2010 and who served with her in cabinet, says we will see the two sides of the new prime minister’s character in response to the energy crisis.
“I think that there’ll be a combination of approaches,” Baroness Morgan tells Newsnight. “I think people are going to find it’s quite hard to pigeonhole Liz in many ways.”
Paul Goodman, editor of the ConservativeHome website and someone who knew Truss during his time as an MP, says the new PM will need to put the UK on a war footing to both meet the energy crisis and to shore up her political support.
“The key to Liz Truss over many years has been her adaptability,” he says. “So although she has this reputation as an ideologue and she has very clear ideological roots – originally as a Liberal Democrat – she is somehow the darling of Leavers who in the referendum was a Remainer.
“She is the champion now of the Tory right, having once been a Liberal Democrat. And she’s presented herself in this election as the new kid on the block when she’s actually been in cabinet for the best part of 10 years. So she has extraordinary powers of reinvention and recovery.”
