Truss, the Iron Weather Vane, Faces Chilly EU Wind

Liz Truss isn’t Boris Johnson. That was the main crumb of comfort for European Union diplomats and leaders as congratulations from Paris to Helsinki flowed to the new resident of 10 Downing Street. After years of Johnson’s antics, from threats over post-Brexit trade to calling the French “turds,” relations surely can’t get any worse.

But EU officials know deep down they will have their work cut out in trying to improve ties. Even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and runaway energy prices should be binding Western allies closer, there’s justified pessimism that Truss, the self-styled Thatcherite — dubbed the “iron weather vane” in the French media, rather than the Iron Lady, given her past political U-turns including Brexit itself — will have the freedom or desire to end the EU blame game that helped win her win the Conservative leadership.