Liz Truss is a ghost in number 10 – for the sake of the country we can’t go on like this

THE great office of prime minister turned into an unedifying game of ghost hunting yesterday.

In a day of unprecedented humiliation, Liz Truss was holed up in Downing Street while her mini-budget and entire political ideology were killed and buried by new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

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On one occasion, when she failed to appear in the House of Commons for Labor’s urgent question, her deputy, Penny Mordaunt, had to reassure the country that the Prime Minister was “not hiding under a desk”.

When Ms. Truss actually appeared on the green benches and sat silently beside the Chancellor, she looked like a haunting apparition.

Can there really be a way back for them?

Mr Hunt did what he had to do to stabilize markets after the chaos caused by the botched handling of the mini-budget.

He’s restored some order to the cost of the Treasury, and interest rates are now much less likely to hit 6 percent, limiting some of the mortgage pain.

But at what cost to Truss, the Tories and – most importantly – Sun readers?

Income tax cuts are gone, alcohol will rise, the triple lock of pensions is in jeopardy and, most worryingly, there is now no guarantee of energy support beyond April.

Families face energy bills of up to £5,000 and the highest overall tax burden since 1950.

The thought of PMQs is almost tragic

Any hope of a tax-cutting growth agenda — designed to stave off a recession and then boost prosperity for all — is dead.

Hunt, now de facto prime minister, warns there could be more misery if further tax hikes and public spending cuts are likely when he makes his Halloween declaration.

Sir Keir Starmer sits back and enjoys the Tory implosion and his mammoth poll leads.

But Labor backed most of the mini-budget tax cuts and has no growth strategy of its own.

What happens next? The thought of a broken PM having to appear on PMQs tomorrow is almost tragic. But allies insist she wants to keep fighting – and Tory MPs have no clear plan to replace her.

What is not needed now is either an election or another endless leadership contest.

If Truss can’t get his bearings quickly, the adults will have to get into a room with 1922 committee chairman Graham Brady and agree to a peaceful transition to a sane figure like Rishi Sunak or Ben Wallace.

For the sake of the country, we can’t go on like this… with a ghost in #10.