What does Truss’s cabinet tell us about her?

'Loyalty' remarked Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe is 'the Tory party's secret weapon.' The near constant blue-on-blue attacks of the last six years have made a mockery of this aphorism. But Liz Truss's first cabinet has demonstrated the importance which she places on loyalty when it comes to selecting her top team. Some 31 names are now attending cabinet; of those just one (Michael Ellis) backed Rishi Sunak. New leaders are entitled to select who they want –⁠ Boris Johnson fired half the ministers upon taking office in 2019 and ruthlessly purged Jeremy Hunt's supporters from his top team. But he, unlike Truss, surpassed expectations in the membership vote (winning 66 per cent) and came top of every round of the parliamentary stage, winning more than twice Hunt's total of MPs on the penultimate round.

Truss, by contrast, was a clear second to Sunak throughout those early ballots and won 57 per cent in Monday's result –⁠ a comfortable victory but the lowest margin of victory since party members were given a say. The circumstances of Truss's victory led some to suggest she might make some cabinet changes, offering posts to Sunak backers like Grant Shapps and Robert Jenrick lower down the batting order. Instead, Truss has opted to ignore such advice and put her most loyal lieutenants in key roles. All four Great Offices of State are now occupied by former members of the Free Enterprise Group: the free market ginger group co-founded by Truss.

It's an interesting contrast with Boris Johnson, whose great strength and weakness was that he was not associated with any particular wing of the party. He had few real allies and often sided with groups for convenience. Johnson did reward loyalty but seemed to place little weight on ideological harmony, with a cabinet that at times included everyone from Amber Rudd, Nicky Morgan and Jo Johnson to Priti Patel, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Esther McVey.

In the leadership race Truss struggled at times to identify with a particular caucus: she had a hard time winning over newer members of the ERG and only became the standard bearer of the Tory right after Suella Braverman dropped out. But in Coffey, Kwarteng and her free market supporters, she has a clear parliamentary faction around her, something that she will hope will be invaluable in navigating the choppy storms that lie ahead. Truss’s fortunes will be tied up in Britain’s economic conditions and her ability to manage the party’s response to those.

Her choices thus far reflect the premium which she places on personal loyalty and ideological compatibility too.