Sir Anthony Seldon is a leading political and social commentator, well-known for his biographies of UK prime ministers. Here he takes a look at two of the most turbulent, drawing on exclusive interviews to give the definitive accounts of Johnson’s and Truss’s premierships.
After his dramatic rise to power amid the Brexit deadlock, Johnson presided over the most turbulent period of British history in living memory. From Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic to the crisis in Afghanistan, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Partygate scandal, his government ultimately unravelled after just three years.
But in the space of just 49 days Liz Truss challenged him for the badge of most disastrous premiership, as she attempted to remould the economy, triggered a collapse in the value of Sterling and was forced on a series of embarrassing U-turns.
Seldon is founder of the Museum of the Prime Minister. He talks to Literary Editor of the Financial Times, Frederick Studemann.
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