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Liz Truss

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Revision as of 18:37, 24 November 2023 by General-KJ (talk | contribs) (Cleaned up page slightly)
Liz Truss
Born26 July 1975
Oxford, England, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Political orientationImperialism
Political partyConservative and Unionist Party


Liz Truss is a Conservative British politician and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Truss served as Prime minister for 44 days from September 6 until October 25 2022 making her the shortest serving prime minister in British history. She replaced Boris Johnson before she was succeeded herself by Rishi Sunak.[1] She takes inspiration from her personal hero Margaret Thatcher, whom she attempted to imitate while in government.[2]

Career

In 2020 she served as Trade secretary where she pushed for an investigation into the imperialist myth of a genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Under Boris Johnson she was promoted to foreign secretary where she supported the war in Ukraine and encouraged Russophobia.[2]

Truss' campaign for Prime Minister was based on proposing massive tax cuts for the wealthy funded through borrowing which she claimed would promote GDP growth.[1] She won the undemocratic leadership competition against Rishi Sunak after Conservative party members voted her in with no democratic mandate from the general population.[2]

Premiership

Policies

Domestic policy

Truss gave large subsidies to energy corporations whilst they made record profits. Meanwhile she refused to give "hand-outs" to the poor who were facing increasing inflation and skyrocketing energy bills.[2]

Her government lifted the ban on fracking.[1]

Mini Budget

On September 23 Truss' chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, presented a mini budget to the British Parliament. This budget consisted of a series of unfunded tax cuts that disproportionally benefited the wealthy such as a reduction in the basic rate of income tax; reversing a rise in corporate tax; axing the cap on bankers' bonuses and increasing the tax's on homebuyers and first time homebuyers.

The mini budget was met with shock and ridicule by even her own party. It spooked the markets, sank gilts and sparked a run on the pound sending borrowing costs spiralling upwards, forcing the Bank of England to make an intervention in the bond market to prevent pension funds from collapsing. A subsequent threatened rebellion by Conservative MPs caused the measure to reduce the top rate of income tax ( £150,000+ per year) to be scrapped.

After the mini budget Truss' already low approval ratings plummeted, with both politicians and the general population outraged by the havoc it had caused with only hard right-wing sources having anything positive to say on it. At one point after the disastrous budget, sterling was trading against the dollar at a record low of $1.038.[1]

Foreign policy

She has a very strong anti-China stance and made veiled threats about a sanctions war with China whilst she was Prime Minister.[2] She supports the separatist Republic of China, calling for the "Taiwanese" region to be defended against supposed Chinese aggression .[3]

Resignation

Following her disastrous mini budget the popularity of the Conservative party nosedived allowing the Labour party to secure a 38 point lead over the Conservatives in the polls. Attempting to salvage her Government Truss sacked her chancellor of 38 days appointing Jeremy Hunt in his place, but this did little to avert her inevitable defeat.

Following this chaos the chairman of the parliamentary 1922 Committee of Tories, informed Truss that she would have to go as the majority of her party no longer had confidence in her. She was succeeded as Prime Minister by Rishi Sunak following no democratic vote, not even an unrepresentative one among party members.[1]

Post-premiership

Seven days before Truss' resignation the Daily Star set up a webcam on a lettuce with a blonde wig to see if it could outlast Truss as Prime Minister. Following Truss' resignation the lettuce' victory was proclaimed by several newspapers and has since become one of many sources of mockery for Truss following her short premiership.[4]

References