So – with a salute to Private Eye’s E J Thribb – farewell then Boris Johnson. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Welcome to Liz Truss who, whatever you think of her – and I don’t think a lot – has taken on possibly the toughest job on the planet.

Despite the mud-slinging and posturing and U-turning of the Conservative Party leadership contest, it’s only fair to acknowledge that Truss is a legitimate leader. In the favourite word of David Cameron, she is the “right” person to carry the torch. Not that all Conservatives would agree. Given a turn out at the ballot of 83%, her win of 57% means less than half the party chose her. She has even less support among MPs, the majority of whom prefer Rishi Sunak, or someone else, possibly themselves.

Even as Truss spends her first morning behind the desk in No10, if newspapers are to be believed – and why would they not be? – there is already talk of a vote of no confidence. The disaffected want this to happen before the end of the year, so that Boris Johnson can be reinstated. Were that to happen, and should Truss to be obliged to fall on her stilettos, she would be among the shortest-lived Prime Ministers in British history. The current holder of that unenviable title is George Canning who, in 1827, lasted a mere 119 days. If the rebels get their way, however, she might oust Canning from his perch.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson lies fourth among post-war PMs whose tenure was brief, though not, in his case, brief enough. I do not use the word lies lightly. That there are Conservatives who truly believe this serial dissembler was an outstanding prime minister shows how blinkered and debased political judgement has become.

Despite the drip-feed of scandals and investigations into shenanigans in Downing Street, and Johnson’s frequent wrong-footing on what he said had happened compared to what actually did happen, not to mention receiving a fine for breaking lockdown rules, there is a sizable cohort in the Tory Party that wants him to return to lead the country.

Is Westminster now an ethical wasteland, where truth is subjective, and inconvenient facts can be brushed off like dandruff? It is pitiful to think that the Church of England, which has long been renowned as “the Tory party at prayer”, has had so little impact on Conservative values. When members hear vicars preaching about integrity, honour, conscience, does that message evaporate the moment they’ve sung the last hymn? Is there one standard by which ordinary mortals are judged, and quite another for someone who has helped to feather nests for the rich and tear Britain away from Europe?

It is alarming to think anybody, even those who least admire Truss, think Johnson’s political resurrection is desirable. If this supposedly fiscally responsible party is to come together, and its yawning divisions be bridged, they have to accept that he is a slippery buffoon who, in all quarters but Ukraine, has seriously damaged the UK’s image. Not to mention tarnished the lofty position he held.

What the country urgently needs is a restoration of trust in our leaders. Truss has reached this elevated position thanks to the 170,000-odd party members who were eligible to vote for her. The rest of us haven’t had that privilege. And yet, like it or not, we are stuck with her, as we were with Johnson and Theresa May before him.

However, if Nicola Sturgeon can be magnanimous towards someone who thinks nothing of publicly insulting her, so should those of us who hold out little hope of Truss being up to the job. With the approach of the most alarming cost of living crisis in living memory, the UK requires a first-class Prime Minister. Not since Churchill took the helm have we been faced with such a firestorm of problems, on the domestic, international and global front. To tackle the situation, and gain the country’s confidence, requires a person in whom we can have absolute faith.

We need a leader who is honest, trustworthy, consistent, direct, far-sighted and altruistic. Sadly, many of these qualities were conspicuously absent from Johnson, as they were from a slew of Tory MPs, who seem to believe you can behave abominably yet still hold public office and command respect.

First impressions of Truss do not inspire confidence. In an oleaginous acceptance speech, where she talked of “my friend Boris”, she, like others, appears still to be in denial about his failings. But let’s give her the benefit of the doubt. Let’s hope that, as she settles into her new role, she will show what true and good leadership should be.

Among her oft-repeated mantras is the notion of “trickle-down economics”. Let’s talk instead about trickle-down leadership. Truss must show by example how we ought to be conducting ourselves in these exceptionally worrying times. The same goes for her Cabinet, and all our elected lieges. But it must go further than that.

As middle, low and non-earners face the very real threat of hardship and destitution in the coming months, those in jobs that pay megabucks, who tell us they are in charge, must prove they earn their remuneration. This goes across the board: water and energy companies, railways, armed forces, universities, health boards, airlines, schools, banks, councils, police, the BBC – sorry for going on, but it’s hard to know where to stop.

With uncertainty and alarm on all sides, whether it’s a tsunami of rising costs, or the repercussions of war, or escalating climate change, people expect those in authority to show the way. While we’re not – for the moment – literally on a war footing, there are parallels with war-time in the difficulties we on the home front face.

As the scale of the challenge ahead grows clearer, those at the top must set an example to electorate, employees and customers. This will trickle down further into people’s personal lives, inspiring them to pull together, and embrace the sort of values that can be built upon. Such as looking after family and neighbours, and involvement in the community.

Good leadership, at every level, is what holds the country together. It means being pro-active and positive rather than supine and defeatist. Ultimately, it’s about survival: not just of the fittest, but of the weakest too. Otherwise there’s no such thing as society, as Truss’s role model once infamously intoned.