Former Prime Minister Liz Truss blames Rishi Sunak for the Conservative Party’s electoral defeat while her controversial policies emerge. Here’s the full story.
Final Indignity
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has been having a challenging time lately. Following her ousting as Prime Minister after 49 days, the shortest tenure of any Prime Minister ever, she attempted to pivot to US politics with her widely promoted but far from bestselling book Ten Years to Save the West. Following that failure, she suffered the final indignity of losing her seat in the recent general election.
Blames Sunak
Far from taking the time to perform some introspection while she combs through the ashes of her former political life, Truss has instead come out swinging in a recent opinion piece for the Telegraph where, in a blistering post-election critique, she lays the blame for the historic Conservative electoral defeat squarely at the feet of her successor, Rishi Sunak, who, she claimed, did nothing but “trashing” her disastrous time in Number 10.
Must Speak Out
Truss, who said she felt she “must speak out now” after keeping quiet during the election campaign for fear of damaging the Conservative Party’s record in government, stated, “More than 250 of us paid the electoral price for this. Regrettably, over the course of the next five years, it will be the British people who have to bear the cost of this failing.”
Leadership Race Reflections
Reflecting on the 2022 Conservative leadership race, Truss accused Sunak of denouncing her agenda for personal gain, which, she claimed, failed to win voter approval for Conservative policies and exacerbated the party’s electoral defeat.
Defends Mini-Budget
Seemingly still confident that her catastrophic mini-budget, which led to a run on the pound and preceded a domestic financial crisis, was not the cause of the massive problems which followed it, Truss wrote, “This abandonment of Conservative principles not only led to him getting no credit from the voters for cutting National Insurance but also led to an even larger general election defeat as he continued to trash my record and promote Labour’s false narrative that the global rise in mortgage rates was somehow my fault.”
Immigration Criticism
Truss further criticised the Conservative leadership for failing to address key voter concerns, particularly around immigration. She argued that Sunak’s inability to “stop the boats” of illegal migrants entering the UK contradicted one of his key slogans and alienated voters.
Unelected State
According to Truss, the party’s failure to implement genuine Conservative policies and its indulgence of the “unelected state” were significant factors in the election loss. She accused centrist Conservative MPs of undermining her and prioritising their careers over the party’s values.
Embrace Radical Change
Similarly, Truss lamented the Conservative Party’s reluctance to embrace radical change, maintaining that, without significant policy shifts, the party would struggle to regain public support. However, she expressed confidence that after five years of Labour governance, the public would seek a Conservative alternative.
Five Years of Labour
She wrote, “I am in no doubt that, after five years of Labour, the public will be crying out for a popular Conservative alternative. This makes it all the more vital that we understand our past failings as we seek to learn lessons from the results of July 4.”
Overshadowed by Revelations
However, Truss’s criticisms of Sunak’s record in government have been overshadowed by recent revelations of her policy ideas during her embarrassingly brief term as Prime Minister.
Retirement Age 80
One such policy idea, reportedly influenced by the right-wing, free-market think tank the Institute for Economic Affairs, which has received funding from the alcohol, tobacco, and fossil fuel industries, was Truss’s suggestion that the retirement age be raised to 80.
“Nobody Should Retire”
The Mirror, which first reported the story, alleged that Truss had told guests at a Westminster garden party: “Nobody should be allowed to retire until they’re 80.”
Devastating Election Results
Despite Truss’s unorthodox economic and political ideas, she is correct on a single issue: the July 4 election results were devastating for the Conservatives.
Influence of Reform UK
Truss attributed part of her defeat to the influence of Reform UK, which captured nearly a quarter of the votes in her constituency. Despite her apparent dislike of Reform UK, Truss will be heading to the Republican National Convention in the US alongside the party’s leader, Nigel Farage.
Seeds of Defeat
Truss concluded her critique with an argument that would not look out of place in the considerably more polarised world of US politics, writing that “the seeds of this defeat go right back to 1997 and the way that the Conservative Party responded to the New Labour project, both in opposition and in government.”
Election Punishment
She added, “Rather than taking on the Leftist agenda, far too often it was bought into – and the election result was our punishment for having done so.”
Future Party Plans
Liz Truss’s post-election analysis offers a scathing critique of Rishi Sunak’s leadership and has drawn further attention to the battle within the Conservative Party over which faction should lead it. It remains to be seen whether Truss’s libertarian vision for the country will feature in her party’s plans for the future.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Gints Ivuskans.