Former Prime Minister Liz Truss faced a hostile audience at the Edinburgh Fringe as she delivered a stark warning about the potential demise of the Conservative Party, calling for radical change to ensure its survival. Here’s the full story.
Truss’s Poor Reception
The Edinburgh Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world, has had its fair share of poorly received shows, but undoubtedly, few can compare to the reception granted to the UK’s shortest-serving Prime Minister, Liz Truss.
Booed and Heckled
Speaking at an event at the Fringe festival, Truss, who faced a mix of boos, heckles and a smattering of light applause throughout her 90-minute appearance, delivered a stark warning to Conservatives about the possible collapse of the party into insignificance.
Collapsed Into Insignificance
Speaking with the authority of someone who has collapsed into insignificance following her disastrous and mercifully brief tenure as Prime Minister, Truss stated, “I think if the Conservative Party wants to survive, and I think there is a real question about whether it does survive or whether or not Reform becomes the party of the right in Britain, it needs to advocate for genuine change and it needs to be prepared to say what we got wrong in the last 14 years not to deliver that change.”
Party Could Die
Truss was then asked whether the Conservative Party could “effectively die,” to which she replied simply, “Yes.”
No Responsibility Taken
Despite her warning to the few remaining Conservatives who, unlike Truss, kept their seats at the last general election, Truss failed, once again, to take any responsibility for the part she might have played in the Conservative’s electoral misfortune since her time as leader.
Denies Mini-Budget Fallout
Truss claimed that she was “not responsible” for and “did not accept” that the fallout from her political mini-budget, which sent markets into freefall and has had long-lasting consequences on the state of the UK economy, was anything to do with her policies.
Criticises Leadership Candidates
Truss also criticised the candidates running to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader in a remarkable display of bridge burning. Truss stated, “I’m hearing too much from candidates saying, ‘We need unity’, or ‘We need to dampen things down’. I think that’s completely wrong – that’s not where the country is.”
Sorry for Braverman
However, Truss did say that she was sorry that disgraced former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who lost many of her supporters following a disastrously received speech in which she compared the Progress Pride flag to the mutilation of children, did not enter the race.
Farage’s Future Role
Truss also suggested that Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK and fellow Conservative political pundit, could have a future role in the Conservative Party should they move away from “consensus” politics.
Bitterly Disappointed
However, if Truss had been expecting a warm welcome at the Edinburgh Fringe, she would have been bitterly disappointed.
Edinburgh’s Unforgiving Audience
As many comedians have found out to their cost, audiences in Edinburgh can be notoriously unforgiving when they do not like what you have to say, and Truss, who has played a parody of a politician for many years, was no different.
Request for Apology
Unlike many comedians met with a barrage of expletives or none-too-subtle requests that they leave the stage, Truss was heckled by an audience member who requested an apology, which Truss seems almost pathologically incapable of giving.
Infamous Rant
In response, Truss went off on one of her infamous rants, arguing, “This is the kind of inane comment that I get from people who do not understand or care what is going on. There’s somebody in the audience who doesn’t even want to listen to my answer, who doesn’t want to understand what actually happened and all they care about is trading political insults and, frankly, that is why the country is in the mess we are in now because we’re not having a serious discussion about why the British economy is not succeeding.”
Political Life Post-Power
Truss’s performance at the Edinburgh Fringe is indicative of her political life since leaving power. The former Prime Minister was brought so low that, following the disastrous reception of her book Ten Years to Save the West, she has attempted to follow in the footsteps of Farage and become a political commentator on right-wing US news networks, with varying degrees of success.
Legacy Debate Ongoing
However, as the audience reaction in Edinburgh shows, the debate over her legacy and what it means for the future of the Conservative Party is still ongoing, even if Truss has yet to accept the decision.
Future of Conservative Party
As the Conservative Party faces electoral insignificance, it remains to be seen whether Truss’s warnings and criticisms will be heeded or whether the few remaining MPs in her party would rather receive their political advice from a former leader who infamously was outlasted in political office by a slowly wilting lettuce.
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