Liz Truss PMQs: Labour are laughing with Tories silent as Truss flounders

At the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership, his final Prime Minister’s Questions was a solemn affair as he brought out a greatest hits of attack lines to try and save himself.

MPs wanted him out and he knew it, but still cheered vociferously as he lambasted Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

It was a tired performance, a big beast of Tory politics raging against the dying light of his premiership, and he was gone shortly after.

Sat in the chamber for PMQs this Wednesday, there was the same anger in his successor Liz Truss, who put in the passionate performance of a woman with her back against the wall.

Prime Minister Liz Truss endured a difficult PMQs with little support from her own party.

It was akin to slide tackling an opponent early on in a big game, turning to the fans and raising your arms to get them up for it.

Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, there was no roar, respite or support to get her over the line.

Tory MPs are miserable, and spent the session more interested in their phones or the intricacies of the floor than they were in rallying behind Ms Truss.

One told me after they already “knew it was over”, adding, though not in celebration, “Keir we go”.

The writing was on the wall for Ms Truss as she entered the chamber to loud cheers and cries of more – a regular scene during Mr Johnson’s premiership.

They were, however, coming from the Labour party, who are beginning to see Ms Truss less as an electoral asset and more of a guarantee of Government.

Opening the session, Sir Keir did something many thought impossible – he was deliberately funny.

He joked: “A book is being written about the Prime Minister’s time in office.

"Apparently it’s going to be out by Christmas. Is that the release date or the title?”

Standing up to respond, the howls of laughter were so endless Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle had to intervene.

Ms Truss explained that in "just two months" she had delivered the energy price guarantee and reversed the national insurance.

The Prime Minister didn't mention the former is now only for six months, and she was part of the Government that introduced the latter.

Referencing the brief time also hurts the Prime Minister as it’s the same period in which she managed to crash the economy and ruin the pound.

There were again no cheers for her from the Tory backbenches, which was in sharp juxtaposition to those on the Labour side.

Sir Keir read out a list of dropped economic policies, with Labour MPs shouting “gone” after each one, getting louder as the list went on.

PMQs is a spectacle, a performative game where MPs try and make their party look good, as well as pander to their own constituents, even if they’re unhappy.

That MPs are no longer even pretending to be excited by Ms Truss is utterly damning, and the biggest concern facing Downing Street.

The Prime Minister made no gaffes or mistakes, and was strong on Labour’s lack of policy in a performance far superior to her previous PMQs.

That her own party no longer seem to care speaks volumes about how close her premiership appears to be to its end.