Politicians are entitled to have private conversations & in balance particularly those in cabinet have a responsibility to be open & transparent in their views. Liz Truss, Chief Secretary, speaking loudly in a public restaurant at lunch; /Thread 1/13

I respect that people will be concerned about invasion of privacy & I respect that instinct. Ultimately though this is a public conversation of a very senior figure who says one thing on TV & clearly believes differently. We have a right to know & it's pretty damning. 2/13

Liz Truss: 'The only person worse at managing people than David Cameron is...Theresa May.

She's such a pacifist whereas I embrace the chaos. I'm a thrillseeker. I'm enjoying watching France.. Macron is such a technocrat & there are consequences- worse than a lame Blair & Brown.'

Truss: Jeremy Hunt is so charming (?!?) There's no consistency though. One minute he's all about the free market and the next...

Matt Hanock is actually getting stuck into policy wheras Jeremy was all about the gameplaying. 4/13

Truss: It's going to be Sajid or Jeremy for leader because of the AV system. The only one who could beat them with members is Boris.

I'm doing a speech tomorrow - young Tories. It's all about new vision for the Conservatives. How they win over the next generation. Unleash them.

Truss: My new vision is all about the roads. We need to push to get company sponsorship for the Top 10 motorways. Like they have in the USA where Burger King sponsor pot holes. We'll wait until the New Year though because obviously now everything is consumed by Brexit.

(ZP: Short interlude, here. Who looks at America's public spending on infrastructure and thinks yes, lets have a bit of that?!) 7/13

Truss: Two most likely scenarios next week is that she gets her vote through or the vote goes to a no confidence vote. And Sajid needs to be really ready to deal with that. Tomorrow will be boring I think - very technical - unless Sajid decides to send a warning shot...Who knows?

Truss: Do you know any journos who might want to come to the darkside?

Have you noticed Gavins gone quiet? Military spending rejected by the Treasury. His modernisation didn't really work & he can't get it signed off. He's got a speech next week & it's all going to be sketchy.

Truss: At Cabinet Meeting (!) Jeremy said we need to get Brexiteers out. Liam and Michael suggested - someone suggested Penny & Andrea and there was silence. I found it a bit sexist really. At least Michaels got credibility, though. 10/13

Truss: Theresa should have used Michael more when making the deal. Used him to get the brexiteers out. Mind you everyone hates him - they all blame him for not letting Boris be Boris. Then we wouldn't have Theresa as Prime Minister - and to be fair, they're right. 11/13

ZP: 2 final things 1/ Again I realise there's a blanace here between privacy & holding people accountable. My judgement is that a public restaurant talking about cabinet meetings is not a smart or careful move & this is the equivalent of journo photographers snapping documents.

And 2/ Crucially, if we had Proportional Representation our politicians could actually be held accountable. Come lobby your MP on December 11th to fight for fairness and equality in our society - and that starts with a fair democratic process so we can end this gameplaying. 13/13

Well @EmilyThornberry isn't letting this one go.

And it's been days where Liz just isn't commenting. You sure you don't want to deny it yet? #governmentinchaos