Shelf life of a lettuce - How not to lead
Edition 74
Happy? Sunday,
Like most Brits, I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, hang my head in despair or march over to No.10 Downing Street to demand the grown-ups take charge.
Today marks 41 days of Liz Truss being Prime Minister of these great isles. And crikey in that short time, she’s managed more U-Turns and national economic destruction than her two predecessors (Theresa May/Boris Johnson) ever did. I’d wager the U.K.’s 80th PM may have done more damage to the nation than any of the 79 we’ve gone through, since 1721.
Trust me, I’m not alone in the sentiment that Britain’s 3rd female PM may destroy the chances for any woman following her. Afterall, I’ve never heard of The Economist and The Daily Star (a tabloid) being in lockstep - describing the country’s leader as a head of lettuce, with the shelf life of one!
“Ms Truss entered Downing Street on September 6th. She blew up her own government with a package of unfunded tax cuts and energy-price guarantees on September 23rd. Take away the ten days of mourning after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and she had seven days in control. That is roughly the shelf-life of a lettuce.” Read more at The Economist.
The Daily Star followed suit with a live stream of an unrefrigerated iceberg lettuce head next to a photo of the PM and both the article and live feed have gone viral!
If Liz Truss survives beyond Christmas, I’ll buy you a drink. I doubt she’ll survive as PM till even start of winter. As one of my oldest friends, a professor of microeconomics reminded me this week - I did tell you so — in The Chief Brief’s edition 70!
41 days of Trussonomics hell
I’ll save you the blow-by-blow details of the PM’s wanton, destructive, inept (the word choice is yours) decision making and amateur hour leadership - Bloomberg’s very generously put together a timeline for when you want to peruse it. Read the timeline on Bloomberg.
But here’s a gist of all her signs of weak leadership - a) when she put together a cabinet that had new, inexperienced faces completely in her camp (dissention? challenge? what’s that!?).
b) then came her economic vision - To tackle rising energy bills, secure future fuel supplies but scrap tax increases and cut other levies (economists had warned these would increase already spiking inflation). Then c) what will be her nail in the coffin/legacy in the midst of a cost of living crisis — that the tax cuts would also apply to the richest, since ‘the PM firmly believes in trickle down economics.’ Has she ever hear about a man called Alan Greenspan who has never been able to live it down?
That, along with d) a pledge to review the remit of the Bank of England prompted investors to dump the pound and government bonds. So was born her then Chancellor’s nickname, Kamikwasi Kwarteng (yes, yes..I know I’m playing to the gallery with that kamikaze quip!). The IMF issued stark warnings about the PM’s plan, the Bank of England had to make unprecedented moves to protect the economy (Read more at The Bank of England). Yet, the PM and her chancellor kept soldiering on in a suicide mission to make the world’s 5th largest economy at best an emerging market, at worst, a banana republic.
Sacrificial altar
I did chuckle as did many, many people in the city of London when MPs came on the news claiming it was perfectly normal for Kwasi Kwarteng to return to the UK, lickety split from the IMF meeting in Washington (where he claimed he was NEVER going to U-Turn on his unfunded tax cuts for the rich). 20 minutes after an MPs assertion he was ‘the man to lead the economy’, a cringeworthy resignation followed with a rather odd letter accepting it from the PM. Read more in the Metro. With a new chancellor now in place, that racks up a total 4 conservative chancellors in as many months.
A sensible leader would have accepted her mistake. A good leader would have apologised for costing citizens trillions, in an experiment gone wrong. A real leader would have resigned, rather than scapegoat her most loyal partner-in-crime of the past decade. She did none of the above.
What followed was the most arrogant, tone deaf 8-minute press briefing and a short and awkward Q&A (other journalists have described it as a Pyongyang style presser) — I had to rewatch 3 times to believe what she said! And by the end of my 3rd watch, I almost broke my screen. Watch Liz Truss’ Briefing on BBC.
What now?
The PM is holding on to power by the skin of her teeth. Conservative MPs want her out and have even talked about yet another conservative leadership change — a pairing of Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak (does the party care about the country’s stability you have to ask!!)
The PM’s also got herself a new chancellor who seems to be more in-charge than she is. Jeremy Hunt is the U.K.’s former health secretary and the man who lost the conservative leadership race to David Cameron. He’s already U-turned on Trussonomics, had a “meeting of minds” with Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, and is currently doing the rounds of Sunday television saying of course, Liz is still in charge (if you believe that!)
Perceptions
Last weekend I was co-chairing a closed-door European leadership summit with the OECD secretary general Mathias Cormann and Campbell Lutyens’ Gordon Bajani. The Tatra Summit held in the mountains of the High Tatras, brings European ministers, commissioners and CEOs together to talk candidly about critical problems and exchange ideas for solutions.
The conversations between Europe’s corporates, biggest energy investors, ministers, the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol and even the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson — were firmly about how to survive the energy crisis this winter. All while not losing track of long term energy independence and net zero goals. There was even the reiteration of working with India and China to try and get them to agree to an oil price cap.
Commissioner Simson has since that meeting, shared her hope that the EU’s new energy crisis package will avoid a scenario where EU member countries are “outbidding one another on the market” and driving up gas prices. (Read more about Germany & Netherlands being the troublemakers in Politico)
But in an intimate leadership gathering where energy headwinds and inflation were centre stage — as one of two Brits in the room and co-chair of the summit — I became a proxy for every British national on the planet. The constant questions were - what the heck was going on in Westminster? Had the Conservatives lost their way or minds? Was this PM going to survive? How many were we planning to have in 2022?
At every turn - be it formally in roundtable discussion, or over drinks or dinner the U.K.’s economic policies and its U-Turns were the butt of constant jokes. And that’s even before the shenanigans of this week.
Frankly and sadly, THAT will be the legacy of Trussonomics.
Also chief in the news
Standing up for your beliefs
Tsai Ing-wen will not back down, even with the might of the Chinese government bearing down on her. She won’t back down because more than the energy/Ukraine/cost of living crisis — escalating tensions between Taiwan and China is considered by analysts as most dangerous to the world’s stability.
The Taiwanese President’s office released a statement rebuking China’s claim in Taiwan and its aggressive approach to the island in the past few hours.
The statement essentially reads: “Taiwan will not back down on its sovereignty or compromise on freedom and democracy, and its people clearly oppose Beijing's idea of "one country, two systems management for Taiwan, Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region is the common responsibility of both sides and meeting on the battlefield is not an option — according to a statement released by President Tsai’s office this morning. Read more at Reuters
What prompted such a fierce statement? It was in response to the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech at the 20th congress of China's ruling Communist Party just a few hours ago.
In it, his focus on Taiwan was clear. In the very opening of his speech President Xi claimed that with full control over Hong Kong now achieved - China remains determined in Taiwan.
“The wheels of history are rolling on towards reunification and the rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation. Complete reunification must be realised, and it can without a doubt be achieved. We will continue to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and utmost effort, but we will never promise to renounce the use of force and reserve the option of taking all measures necessary.” Read more on ABC News
The Congress of the CCP is a week-long meet where in its 20th session, President Xi is likely (read 100%) to get his 3rd five-year term. His comments also come just a week after President Tsai told the Taiwanese people (in her National Day address) she wanted to make it clear to the Beijing authorities, armed confrontation was absolutely not an option for either side.
The price of leadership
Niloofar Hamedi is the award-winning Iranian journalist who has been covering and bravely leading the reporting on women’s rights for years in Iran. This week, she was arrested. Her’s were the final pictures of Mahsa Amini before the 22-year old’s death at the hands of Iran’s morality police and the pictures that has brought about a revolution in Iran.
Niloofar’s lawyer reports she has not been charged, is being held in solitary confinement, her belongings confiscated, and her twitter account suspended. Read more on Reuters
Since the start of the protests, and as of Saturday — Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a news site run by a collective of Iranian human rights advocates claims:
1) Security forces have killed 224 people, with 29 of those under the age of 18.
2) 6,000 people have been arrested (multiple other reports say this includes minors and school girls).
3) Protests are ongoing in 112 cities
Stick it to the pharma bros! (A little bit of family pride!)
My inspiring cousin Priti Krishtel has won the MacArthur "genius grant" for her decades of work in making medicine accessible to all. NPR has called her a rebel! And her family would wholeheartedly agree. Read more at NPR.
Her father was heavily involved in the biotech/medical research world for his entire career - and Priti has spent her working career of 20+ years working as a health justice lawyer, fighting obnoxiously high drug prices of pharma companies. How? Her work via her organisation I-MAK prevents these companies from exploiting loopholes inthe U.S. patent laws that lets them keep exclusive rights to medicines for an extended period of time.
So, give Priti a loud cheer - her hard work is getting the massive recognition it deserves!
Movers and Shakers
Asia:
Gillian Tan has been appointed as chief sustainability officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). She replaces Darian McBain and will focus on leading an expanded sustainability group to contribute to the region’s net zero transition and strengthen the climate resilience of Singapore’s financial services sector. She will also continue in her current role as assistant managing director for the central bank’s developmental and international departments.
Europe:
Lynn O’Leary has been appointed CEO of the insurer RSA Luxembourg. She succeeds Rachel Conran who has held this position since 2019. Lynn was most recently chief operations officer, global specialty lines at RSA’s parent firm Intact Financial Corp.
Africa:
Folasade Ogunsola is set to become the 13th and first female Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos. While the appointment is yet to be confirmed, it is unlikely that she will not be appointed. Folasade, Professor of Medical Microbiology, previously made history by being appointed the 13th and first female provost of the University of Lagos’ College of Medicine.
North America:
Andrea A. Hayes Dixon, M.D., FACS, FAAP has been appointed Dean at Howard University College of Medicine and becomes the first Black woman to serve in that role. Andrea succeeds Hugh Mighty, and with her appointment, the number of women serving as academic deans at Howard University increases to 11.
On that inspiring note of what women around the world are aspiring to and achieving - I’m going to wish you a wonderful week ahead!
The Chief Brief will be on hiatus next Sunday! I’m going to enjoying the pleasures of packing and moving house — You all know how joyful that experience can be!
Wish me luck!