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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Reanna Smith

Liz Truss' most embarrassing moments – cheese rant to humiliating 45p tax U-turn

Liz Truss is set to deliver her first Conservative party conference speech as Prime Minister today.

It's expected that Truss will seek to defend her economic plan as she takes to the stage in Birmingham, claiming that "everyone will benefit".

The new Prime Minister saw a big blow to her reputation earlier this week when just hours after declaring that she would stand by her controversial plan to scrap the 45p top tax rate, she U-turned on the policy.

Now, she'll be looking to grapple back some of her credibility in her speech, but if her history at the party conference is anything to go by she may struggle.

Before the rising publicity amid her election as the new leader of the Tory party, the former Foreign Secretary was best-known for some bizarre and embarrassing moments, including a previous awkward Conservative party conference speech that quickly went viral.

Here's some of her most humiliating blunders to date.

Awkward moment during victory speech

One of Ms Truss' latest blunders happened during her victory speech after being announced as the winner of the Tory leadership contest in September.

Paying tribute to Boris Johnson during her speech, Truss confidently said that the outgoing Prime Minister was "admired from Kyiv to Carlisle”.

However, in an very awkward moment, the new Tory leader then paused as she held for an applause, which resulted in an uncomfortable three-second silence from the onlooking crowd before a few quiet claps began, followed by the rest of the audience eventually joining in.

Truss was quickly ridiculed on social media for her poorly timed speech, which isn't the first time that she's been hit with awkward silence from a crowd.

Getting lost at her own leadership launch

Another of Truss' recent blunders came at the launch of her own leadership bid, as she seemingly got lost when trying to exit.

After setting out her plans for the Conservative party, she walked confidently towards the cameras and through crowds as she was applauded.

But the confident exit was marred when she appeared confused and hastily had to walk back the way she came.

Luckily, someone eventually managed to help her find her way out of the room.

When she made a passionate speech about pork markets

In 2014, Truss became a viral meme for a passionate speech she made about pork markets during the Conservative Party conference.

Truss, who was then Environment Secretary, told members: "In December I'll be in Beijing, opening up new pork markets!"

The remark was followed by a wide self-pleasing grin and a short awkward silence before she got her expected applause.

The baffling speech has since become one of the politician's most memorable moments.

Liz Truss' cheese rant

As the new leader of the Conservative party, the British public want to know that Truss is on top of the biggest issues affecting our country.

Luckily, if you're a British cheese lover, she's got your back.

It wasn't just pork that Truss became passionate about during her 2014 conference speech.

She was also ridiculed after giving a bizarrely impassioned rant about cheese.

She appeared outraged that British people weren't eating enough British cheese as she said: "I want to see us eating more British food here in Britain.

"At the moment, we import two-thirds of all of our apples, we import nine-tenths of all of our pears, we import two-thirds of our cheese.

"That. Is. A. Disgrace."

Her radio interview meltdown with Eddie Mair

Truss got herself into a tricky situation when she was grilled about her personal experience with austerity (PA)

Truss managed to wedge herself into a tight spot on air with LBC's Eddie Mair in 2019 when she was grilled on the Tory policy of austerity.

The then-Treasury minister seemed to laugh over a question about feeling the pinch herself after the government's years of swingeing cuts.

"My question is about you. How have you been affected. Have you been adversely affected?" Mair asked her.

"Well, I, er. What I would say is that we (laughs) have had a period where..." Truss floundered.

"I don't know why it's funny. A lot of people have had a terrible time with austerity," Mair shot back.

Truss struggled to answer the question, telling him it wasn't "a good question" and she didn't know what it meant.

When she told Brits they could fight in Ukraine

Truss said she'd 'support' Brits fighting in Ukraine (PA)

Earlier this year, Truss bizarrely backed Brits to join the Ukrainian resistance in fighting against Russia.

During an interview with BBC One's Sunday Morning programme, she said: “That is something people can make their own decisions about.

"The people of Ukraine are fighting for freedom and democracy, not just for Ukraine, but for the whole of Europe. Absolutely, if people want to support that struggle, I would support them in doing that.”

Her support directly contradicted the advice of the government which urged Brits not to go due to the danger to their lives.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve said: "The comments of the Foreign Secretary may be entirely honourable and understandable, but unless the UK government gives formal licence to people to go to Ukraine, they would be in breach of the Foreign Enlistment Act and committing a criminal offence."

Truss quickly made a U-turn on her comments, and claimed that she was just "expressing support for the Ukrainian cause" when she said she would "absolutely" support Brits who wanted to fight.

During a press conference after the remarks, she said: “I have been very clear that the travel advice from the United Kingdom is not to go to Ukraine.

“There are better ways of helping the efforts in Ukraine, namely donating to the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) appeal.

“What I said the other week was expressing support for the Ukrainian cause, they are fighting a just cause and we are doing all we can to support them.”

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