Now it is time for Truss to show she is a woman who can deliver, says Christa Ackroyd

Liz Truss is in for a bumpy ride and not just because of the enormous in tray waiting for her at Number 10 as she takes over at the helm of a country in crisis when it comes to paying the bills. As a woman she will be judged more harshly than if she were a man. It is still the way of the world. But then as the former Minister for Women and Equalities she should know that.

Firstly, who am I to give advice to a new Prime Minister? But I will anyway. Because I am also a voter and a woman and as such I am initially at least fiercely supportive of any woman who lands a top job as there are still too few that do.

And if you don’t believe me think on this. For every female boss in Britain’s top FTSE companies there are more than 20 men. Of those outside th e top 350 companies, more than half the companies have no women in executive roles at all, with more than a quarter of boards still all male or with only one woman.

And while paying men and women different wages for the sam e job is illegal, the difference in actual pay for middle ranking women and middle ranking men of the 9,628 companies who reported, which they have to by law, 7,572 confessed to a pay gap which favours men.

So no pressure Prime Minister, but you are not just representing your party or the country at large, you are representing the thousands upon thousands of woman who can do the job, but are just not given the opportunity.

At last the interminable summer of campaigning has ended and it has not all been about shoes and clothes as it was in the not too distant past. Well it was, only this time the tables were turned and it was Rishi Sunak who was berated for his Prada shoes and bespoke suit as if the campaign didn’t have more important issues to focus on.

But then I also still have a begrudging respect for Teresa May whose whole term in office appeared to be dominated by what she wore not what she said. As if leopard print kitten heels maketh the woman.

I am not too concerned that Liz Truss’s acceptance speech seemed rather faltering and a little lacklustre. I am more focused on what she delivers than how she delivers it. And some might say Boris was all trousers and no substance.

But it’s not going to be an easy ride when just less than half the party didn’t want you there.

Neither am I concerned that she has been seen to change her mind, not just on Brexit, but on actual party and move from Liberal Democrat to Tory, Remainer to Brexiteer.

Being persuaded that others are right and you were wrong is all part of being a listener and a leader. And we are all allowed to change our views along the way. As long as they are genuinely held.

I have been a boss. In fact I was a boss at far too young an age to have even begun to understand the complexities of handling people, particularly people who believe they are better equipped to do the job than you.

There was no mentoring schemes back in the 1980s, no role models in my business of radio where I was the first female news editor and then programme controller in independent radio in the 1980s. And yes I cried in the toilets when my back was against the wall. And what’s wrong with that? It didn’t make me weak. It simply made me more determined than ever to get things right, with a passion for the job and a belief that hard work and being true to your roots and your audience was the key.

Which brings me round to Ms Truss’s greatest blunder, apart from seemingly not knowing which town or city she was in when she described Cheltenham as being in Derbyshire.

The first thing Liz Truss needs to do is apologise to a school here in Yorkshire which she claims ‘let down’ pupils with ‘poor education standards’ ‘low expectations ‘ and ‘a lack of opportunity’, which is all a bit rich seeing as though she got into Oxford from there.

No wonder former pupils at Roundhay school are enraged. To be trashed as failing when you are in fact now seen as as outstanding will grate forever.

Liz Truss has one thing and one thing only which is at the top of her to do list for the next few months and that is tell people how they can pay their bills. Food banks are being overwhelmed but the introduction of fuel banks where people can go to sit in the warmth is simply shocking.

As is a TV programme, largely produced to entertain, This Morning this week spun their wheel of fortune with the prize of paying your fuel bills for a quarter. That’s how much trouble we are in.

What I do know is that after the bitter, at times downright nasty campaigning, this country has had enough of party politics. It is now high time all political parties put their heads together. If I had a pound for every person I have heard use the word coalition recently I wouldn’t have to contemplate my winter fuel bills. But that is never going to happen.

Now at least we know who will be in charge because only then can we hold them to account. And now at last the Government can get on with governing rather than use the excuse that they can’t do so until they know who is at the helm.

Our new Prime Minister is an ambitious, well educated (remember where that began please Ms Truss ) woman and about to have the toughest job in the country.

But who could forget what happened to Margaret Thatcher, said to be her hero. She was left alone, isolated and departed in tears after she failed to do the one thing we ask of all politicians and that is listen. Do I want Liz Truss to succeed?

Absolutely. For the sake of the pensioners or families who can’t afford to put their heating in this winter, for the sake of Europe now facing its biggest threat to stability since the Second World War and for the sake of womankind who need to be shown that wanting the top job is not a crime.

As long as you get things done as you say you will.

Over to you Prime Minister. The country expects.