Lettuce spinner
Liz Truss , Issue 1655

WITH Kemi Badenoch attacking the prime minister and chancellor in the pages of the Sunday Telegraph for making the same "mistakes" as the Tories did with their calamitous 2022 mini-budget, what news of the original authors of that disaster, Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng?

Amazingly, the disaster artists appear to be back together again, the Crazy Gang having been reunited thanks to an American lobbyist.

Though Truss and Kwarteng may be figures of ridicule in the UK after their catastrophic miscalculation led to them serving as PM and chancellor for less than two months, Americans, however, seem less bothered.

In April, Kwarteng joined US-based lobbying firm Gunster Strategies as its global chief strategist, supplying "unparalleled expertise from his distinguished career in UK politics".

Perhaps influenced by Kwarteng's involvement, Truss has hired Gunster Strategies to help her know what to say and whom to meet in her ongoing quest to woo Washington.

Letter of the law
Strict US laws on "foreign agents" mean the lobbyist's letter of appointment with Truss is included in official registers. It reveals the firm is helping her with "public policy advocacy", including "government outreach" and arranging "private meetings with members of Congress". It will also organise "one high-level public policy event" for Truss with members of the US government in attendance.

The initial three-month engagement with Truss began at the end of June, and Truss's registered agents are Gerry Gunster, the veteran US lobbyist running the company, and Omar Arouna, a former ambassador for the small west African nation of Benin.

According to the company website, Gunster has lobbied for Seagram's gin, Tropicana orange juice and the Grocery Manufacturers of America, so the lettuce-like former PM seems a good fit!

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The new chief executive of the government's National Wealth Fund is a banker whose last dabble with public investments resulted in a loss of up to £5.9bn.