There’s a quote often attributed to Groucho Marx that goes something along the lines of: "These are my principles and if you don’t like them… I have others."

Of course Groucho Marx was a comedy genius and it is assumed the quote was a barb aimed at slippery politicians.

But frankly it could have been written about Liz Truss. She has her principles but seems quite adept at getting new ones when it suits.

At the time of writing, the interminable process to elect a new leader of the Tory Party, and hence our new prime minister, is still crawling along but if the polls are to be believed, it will be Ms Truss who will soon be redecorating the flat above No 10.

Back in the day, Ms Truss was a card-carrying member of the Lib Dems and was president of Oxford University Liberal Democrats.

During this time, she famously gave a speech to the Lib Dem Conference where she called for the abolition of the monarchy.

To be fair, she was a teenager so perhaps her political views weren’t fully formed and let’s face it, which of us can look at our 19-year-old selves and say we haven’t changed in the intervening years.

So going to Oxford was obviously a transformative experience for Ms Truss, the daughter of left-wing parents, because in 1996 we had the first major volte face when she both graduated, ditched the Lib 6Dems and joined the Conservative Party.

But if we’re talking about sticking to principles, the thorny topic of Brexit has to be addressed. Let’s look at some tweets from Ms Truss back in pre-referendum days.

How about: “I am backing remain as I believe it is in Britain’s economic interest and means we can focus on vital economic and social reform at home.”

Or maybe: “Leave cannot name one country we would get a better trade deal with if we left the EU.”

And this is my personal favourite from the 2016 version of Liz Truss: “I don't want my daughters to grow up in a world where they need a visa or permit to work in Europe...”

But as we know, Remain lost, Leave won and all the Remain-voting Tory MPs were condemned to wander the political wilderness as Boris Johnson conducted a purge of Conservative Europhile parliamentarians.

So the question Ms Truss was faced with was what’s a girl to do? Stick with her pro-EU principles, or like Groucho Marx, find some new ones more acceptable to the Downing Street hierarchy.

We all know the answer. Just like the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus, step forward arch-Brexiteer Truss who one can now only assume is happy for her daughters to grow up in a world where they need a visa or a permit to work in Europe.

This column isn’t about the rights and wrongs of Brexit, it is about a politician who seems to discard her principles as easily as taking off her cardi when the sun comes out.

And that woman is odds-on to become our next prime minister.

I was really hoping and praying once Boris Johnson was removed from office, he would be replaced by a serious politician, someone with principles and conviction, not someone who panders to the 160,000 mainly white, mainly old, mainly male, mainly reactionary, mainly southern-based members of the Conservative Party.

But it looks like that’s what we’ve got.

Come September, the new prime minister will have an in-tray of problems, and then some, not seen since the 1970s:

  • soaring, unsustainable energy costs;
  • double-digit inflation;
  • increasing industrial unrest as trade unions finally fight back after 12 years of austerity;
  • an NHS that is short of money, beds and staff that is already forecasting a winter crisis;
  • a social care sector that is struggling to cope because it can’t recruit EU workers;
  • an ambulance service that is on its knees;
  • a Covid pandemic that has not gone away coupled with the threat of a bad flu season;
  • increasing poverty and foodbank use;
  • a travel sector that can’t recruit enough staff;
  • raw sewage being pumped into our rivers and seas;
  • all the problems associated with climate change – heatwaves and wildfires in the summer, torrential rain and flooding in the winter.

What we need is a big beast of politics, someone with gravitas, with a plan, with a clear vision that extends beyond giving tax cuts to the already well-off.

Sadly, that’s not what we’re getting. Good luck everyone, I think we’re going to need it.