Foreign secretary Liz Truss and her inner circle were holed up last weekend at her 17th-century official countryside residence, plotting what her government might look like and how to begin tackling the multi-layered crises facing the country should she win the race to become the next UK prime minister.

The Conservative party leadership contest may have just under two weeks to run, but with several polls suggesting that she has a more than 30-point poll lead over her rival Rishi Sunak, Truss decided it was time to decamp to Chevening House in Kent to plan the transition to power.

Senior insiders on her leadership campaign insisted they were not taking victory for granted but with a hefty in-tray of economic challenges facing the next prime minister, Truss wanted to hit the ground running if she was chosen by party members on September 5 to replace Boris Johnson. “There is no complacency, we are not assuming anything,” one ally said.