LIZ Truss cut short a critical diplomatic trip to an Indonesian summit to launch her leadership bid and is gunning for support from the far-right of the Tory party.
The Foreign Secretary is the favourite of Boris Johnson’s supporters, including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries, but is locked in a battle for the backing of Brexiteers with Attorney General Suella Braverman and former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch - despite the fact she was a Remainer herself.
Truss has frequently hit the headlines for a number of gaffes - including the infamous cheese speech - and has been a rising star under Johnson, but will she win the leadership nomination?
Who is Liz Truss?
TRUSS has been MP for South West Norfolk since 2010 and is one of the longest serving cabinet members of the current cohort of Tory MPs.
Educated at a primary school in Paisley, followed by high school in Leeds, before going on to study at Oxford, where she was president of the university’s Liberal Democrat group. Footage of Truss questioning the monarchy has begun to do the rounds after her leadership announcement.
First, she held the role of parliamentary under secretary in the education department, before taking over the Rural Affairs secretary brief, then Justice Secretary and Chief Secretary of the Treasury.
In 2019 she was made International Trade secretary and struck deals with Australia, New Zealand and Japan following Brexit, before being made Foreign Secretary after Dominic Raab was sacked from the top job after refusing to pick up the phone while Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.
Truss also currently holds the role of women and equalities minister and has been accused of treating the brief as a “side hussle”, with MPs accusing the government of sidelining the push for equality.
What is Lizz Truss pledging in her leadership bid?
Like every other contender, bar Rishi Sunak, Truss’s headline policy is to immediately cut taxes if she takes over the role of Prime Minister. Truss launched her leadership bid via a paywalled Telegraph article, writing that she would also reverse the National Insurance increase brought in by Sunak and “keep corporation tax competitive”.
She also hinted at further cuts to the civil service and said she would back the private sector with a long-term plan to “bring down the size of the state”.
Truss also said she would continue to deliver on the “vast opportunities” brought by Brexit, adding: “But we can go further, whether it is doing more to champion innovation or charting our own course on regulation.”
What has Liz Truss said about Scotland?
Truss has run into trouble a few times in her career when it comes to Scotland - but has stayed quiet on the issue of independence. In 2019 she was slammed by a statistics watchdog over “incorrect” claims about the UK Government’s generosity to Scotland. She claimed the Treasury were set to give Scotland an extra £737 million because of poor growth - but the cash was actually money deducted from the 2017-18 block grant as the government had overestimated how much would be gained through new devolved taxes.
In 2020, she was accused of orchestrating a “stitch-up” by inviting SNP MPs to a meeting about crippling whisky tariffs - two hours after it started. Truss’s trade deal with Australia also caused fury amongst Scottish farmers and opposition MPs amid fears that the agreement could put UK and Scots producers out of business.
I have a clear vision for our country and economy - and the experience and resolve to deliver it.https://t.co/koPyqw4wIG#lizforleader pic.twitter.com/V9jENJmyj6
— Liz for Leader (@trussliz) July 11, 2022
Who is backing Liz Truss for Prime Minister?
Johnson loyalists Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries backed Truss in a televised interview outside of Downing Street on Tuesday morning. Truss is currently one endorsement away from the required 20 with Rees-Mogg and Dorries on board.
Other notable Tories in Truss’s camp are new education secretary James Cleverly, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke, BEIS secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and Therese Coffey, work and pensions secretary.
What is Liz Truss’s voting record?
Truss has voted against raising welfare benefits in line with prices, against spending public money to guarantee jobs for young people, and voted against higher benefits for those with long term disabilities or illnesses.
She backed privatisation of the Royal Mail, voted against greater gambling restrictions, voted to replace Trident with a new nuclear weapons arsenal, and generally voted against measures which would mitigate climate change. Truss also voted against giving more powers to the Scottish parliament.
