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Liz Truss | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 26 July 1975 Oxford, England, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Political orientation | Imperialism |
| Political party | Conservative 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, when she took over from Boris Johnson, until October 25 2022, when she was replaced by Rishi Sunak, making her the shortest serving prime minister in British history.[1] She takes inspiration from her personal hero Margaret Thatcher, whom she attempted to imitate while in government.[2]
Political 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.[1]
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.[1]
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.[1]
Following this chaos the chairman of the parliamentary 1922 Committee of Tories, informed Truss that she would have to resign 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]
In the July 2024 general election, Liz Truss lost her seat in the constituency of South West Norfolk to Labour candidate Terry Jermy by just 630 votes, making Truss the first former Prime Minister to lose her seat in nearly a century. Truss treated the loss in an egotistical manner; showing up to the vote counting late, declining to perform a concession speech and when asked about the loss she blamed her party and took no personal responsibility for her behaviour.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Harpal Brar (2022-11-09). "Rishi Sunak becomes Britain’s third prime minister in seven weeks" Proletarian.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Proletarian writers (2022-08-11). "Backing Truss for PM means doubling down on war drive and economic pain" Proletarian.
- ↑ Doug Rooney (2022-09-23). "Britain takes aggressive anti-China line with hawkish PM Liz Truss" Multipolarista. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
- ↑ Matthew Weaver (2022-10-20). "Iceberg lettuce in blond wig outlasts Liz Truss" The Guardian.
- ↑ Ros Atkins (2024-07-08). "The Liz Truss moment: What it was like to be in the room" BBC.