Joseph Chamberlain apparently quotes Powell in his book which reads: "All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs"

It is often abbreviated "All political careers end in failure."

I think Truss tried to do a Lawson (with her Chancellor) and bring taxes down but it was too far, too fast. Lawson went from 83%[1] to 60% and then 40% as the top rate, if I recall. Truss's Tory party then (as now) was Labour in but name, same policies but Cameron was pleased to call it Austerity (like the mid, post WW2 era), and they wouldn't stand for tax reductions.

It's all messed up.

Labour have done nothing for normal people like us - they've had the Tory leasehold reform Act on the books for an eternity without a implementation date (maybe because many MPs have BtL portfolios) and haven't moved to make owners of flats live in a less feudal situation.

Tories removed free speech hidden in the latter clauses of the Online Safety Act 2023 (with help from Labour) because they knew what was coming.

[1] with top ups making it 97% marginal.