IN a entirely unwelcome development in UK politics, Liz Truss wrote a 4000-word essay in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph. We can only assume the former prime minister was being paid by the word, because what conceivable motivation would there be for her to put herself – and the public – through such a trial otherwise?

Truss has never given the impression that she’s a 4000-word essay kind of woman. It would be no surprise coming from other former prime ministers. Boris Johnson’s Tinder profile is probably a few thousand words in itself.

Such a word count would require the meandering and self-indulgent Blair to exercise restraint. Gordon Brown could easily fire out 4000 words on how the next Labour government will definitely, absolutely, pinky-promise deliver a federal UK that will strengthen Scotland’s place in the Union.

What on Earth has Truss got to say at this point, beyond “whoops, sorry I crashed the economy”? Instead her essay can be summed up as saying “it wasn’t my fault”.

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The only time we’ve ever seen her truly interested and animated about something was when she did that viral speech about cheese and pork markets. If the essay was about cheese and pork then it might make sense. It might actually be worth reading. But it’s not.

However, if you have set aside half a day to plough through it, I’ll try not to include too many spoilers.

Suffice to say, the former prime minister just wanted to have a bit of a moan, and her pals at the Sunday Telegraph helpfully obliged with a few metres of newsprint.

The fact that she was forced out of Number 10 after only 49 – humiliating – days is the fault of everybody but her, according to Truss. She says she “doesn’t claim to be blameless” before going on to explain why other forces were, in fact, to blame.

One of the culprits she cites is the hilariously titled “left-wing economic establishment” which is surely a contradiction in terms. She also blames her own party for not sharing her commitment to a “low-tax, high growth” economy, as well as officials at the Treasury for their cowardice in not supporting her radical vision.

Reading through it, you could be forgiven for believing Truss was some modern-day economic pioneer, and not the blundering idiot that she turned out to be.

But we were all there, so we remember what happened.

We remember the vacant expression in her eyes whenever she was asked a two-part question. We remember the excruciating eight-minute mini-press conference she held after the pound crashed and she had to sack her chancellor.

We remember her defiance and lack of contrition at what turned out to be her final PMQs. It was a shambles, but according to Truss’s epic essay, it wasn’t one of her own making.

Her piece offers a remarkable insight into the psychology of those who successfully climb the greasy pole to the highest office in the land.

Self-reflection seems to be in short supply. If I made a mistake at work that had catastrophic consequences for other people, as Truss did, you’d never hear from me again.

I’d emigrate. I’d change my name. The absolute beamer I’d get from letting so many people down would force an immediate self-banishment from society.

But Truss seems quite relaxed about her many failures. She’s certainly not embarrassed. Though she does accept that her government could have communicated better during those turbulent few weeks. “I’m not the slickest communicator,” she wrote. Which is probably of the reasons she needed 4000 words to say “it wasn’t my fault”.

“I still believe that seeking to deliver the original policy prescription on which I had fought the leadership election was the right thing to do but the forces against it were too great.”

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Are you following her train of thought here? The bad thing that happened definitely wasn’t her fault but the thing that led to the bad thing happening was the right thing to do and it was the fault of the people who were at fault that the bad thing was stopped before it could get really, really bad.

Glad we cleared that up.

Horrifyingly, this misjudged comeback from Truss is only just getting under way.

An ally of the former prime minister told one newspaper: “Liz has taken a few months to gather her thoughts and is now ready to speak about her time in office and the current state of play.”

She has “a number” of scheduled media appearances coming up this week, as well as a speech on China that is being trailed as “hawkish”.

This will no doubt be a headache for Rishi Sunak but we can’t take any comfort from that because we have to endure it, too. Have we not suffered enough?