The Prime Minister promised that she would ‘hit the ground running’ if she won the Tory leadership – and she has been true to her word.
Liz Truss starts most days with early-morning runs around the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 12th Century Thameside garden at Lambeth Palace in the company of hand-picked advisers.
The aim is to help her to thrash out solutions to the intimidating set of issues filling up her in-tray. She then returns to No 10 to shower, ready to hold her first meeting at 8.30am at her desk in the Cabinet Office.
Ms Truss was first offered the use of Archbishop Justin Welby’s London residence a few days before she was declared the winner of the Tory leadership contest on September 6.
Lambeth Palace boasts one of the largest private gardens in London – at ten acres – and it is one of the oldest continuously cultivated gardens in the country, having been founded in 1197.
When Ms Truss moved into Downing Street with husband Hugh and their two daughters she told officials that she wanted ‘regular exercise sessions’ included in her diary – and, where possible, to combine them with meetings.
As she jogs around the grounds, she asks members of her inner circle for ideas. Pictured: Liz Truss running in New York last year
The Prime Minister runs around the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 12th Century Thameside garden at Lambeth Palace
As she jogs around the grounds, she asks members of her inner circle for ideas to solve the cost-of-living crisis, high energy bills and the problem of low economic growth, as well as the NHS backlog and thorny issues such as the extent to which the Government should intervene in the ‘culture wars’ over woke issues.
The sessions are also understood to have covered what – if anything – to do about the investigation by MPs on the Privileges Committee into Boris Johnson’s actions during the ‘Partygate’ Covid rule breaches in No 10.
The Prime Minister’s Downing Street inner circle is built around a cabal of trusted, youthful and, in some cases, sporty allies who envisaged a Truss Premiership long before it was taken seriously by Westminster.
Her closest aides include political secretary Sophie Jarvis, Deputy Chief of Staff Ruth Porter, and Jason Stein, a multi-purpose fixer whose main responsibility is to prepare her for her Commons exchanges with Sir Keir Starmer.
The period of mourning for the Queen, while emotionally draining, has also afforded the No 10 operation a breathing space to start working through the new PM’s daunting in-tray.
The work will start in earnest this week, even while Ms Truss is in New York to address the UN General Assembly. On Wednesday, Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg will announce details of the Government’s energy support package for businesses to the Commons.
On Thursday, Ms Truss will be back in the chamber to listen to Health Secretary Therese Coffey outline her plans to ensure the NHS will cope with additional pressures this winter, before Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng delivers his tax-cutting mini-Budget on Friday.
Central to the Lambeth ‘jogging meetings’ is debate about how to fire up the economy in time for the expected General Election in 2024.
Boris Johnson also used Lambeth Palace’s garden for morning runs when he was Prime Minister, usually with his dog Dilyn.
The walled site, on the opposite side of the Thames from Downing Street, offers a more secure environment than St James’s Park.
In London, it is smaller only than the 42 acres at Buckingham Palace and the 12 acres at Winfield House, the townhouse in Regent’s Park which is the official residence of the US ambassador.
A source said: ‘The invitations to the runs are coveted and feared in equal measure: apart from anything else, not everyone is as fit as Liz.
‘The runs are the perfect way for Liz to clear her head and put her advisers through their paces.
‘She made clear when she started that she wanted regular exercise sessions to be an intrinsic part of her diary.’