JACKIE Weaver has questioned whether Liz Truss has the right people around her to be successful as Prime Minister.

Jackie, who famously told a Zoom meeting of shouting male councillors that “she had the authority, told Mark Dolan on GB News: “Being Prime Minister isn’t something you get to practice very much before it actually happens to you. But surely, in your political career, you’ve worked out that one of the most important things that any politician does is communication and her (Liz Truss’) communication skills are poor.

“Certainly the radio interviews that she did last week were painful to listen to. One of the things that worries me is the Cabinet generally. I sense she’s kind of surrounded by like-minded people, who will, of course, be supportive of her. But although that helps her feel comfortable, it doesn’t really challenge you. It doesn’t take you out of that echo chamber, and allow you to really think, is this right?”

“It has been such a poor start for her and a lot of that is just simply not her fault but it is going to be incredibly difficult for her to recover from it. One of the things that comes across to me very much is talking about the state of the country from the budget forward. But actually, there’s not even any recognition of the concerns that people had even prior to the budget. In the local authority world, we are dealing with local authorities at the moment that are increasing the amount of food bank support they’re giving, and also are turning their libraries and community centres into safe warm spaces for people to spend time over the winter. I mean, if that isn’t a crisis, I don’t know what is.”

Talking about her role on ‘Make Me Prime Minister’, Jackie added: “It was terrific. It’s being described as very much like the apprentice, except we don’t wear such high-heeled shoes or tight clothes. We have a weekly task in which we have to perform a policy that we have to deliver to the country and a policy we have to sell to the community. And then we are appraised by Alastair Campbell and Baroness Warsi and you’re sitting there thinking ‘think I’ve done okay, yeah’. And then it’s three words and you realise you’re an idiot.”

Setting out what she would do if she was in Liz’ shoes, she added: “I’m assuming that everything else has been sorted, of course, I would decentralise spending to local authorities. I think local authorities have a better understanding of how to support local communities.”