People who get presents are not necessarily unable to pay their own way. It's hardly 'remarkable' that people who have got to the top in their profession are still given gifts, is it?
Who knows why BJ cultivated that image. I'm not sure what was being enhanced, but each to her own. I'm sure we all have different ideas about what constitutes 'genuinely broke', too
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This is an entirely pointless deviation from the thread, though. As the OP says, the Tories left the country in a mess, so it will take longer than expected for the government to get it back on track. That is the situation we are in, and it would have been wrong for KS to pretend otherwise and build up our hopes falsely.
Personally, I would have tried to inject a bit of hope into the speech, but people have different styles. I would much rather be told the truth than promises of sunlit uplands or whatever it was, and I think most sensible people would prefer that, too.