Truss claims left ‘sabotaged’ her tax-slashing efforts ahead of US speech

The short-lived former prime minister will address a gathering of US right-wingers on Thursday.
Former prime minister Liz Truss (Victoria Jones/PA)
PA Wire
Sophie Wingate21 February 2024
WEST END FINAL

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Liz Truss has claimed her efforts to cut taxes were “sabotaged” by the “administrative state and the deep state”.

The former prime minister, whose disastrous mini-budget in September 2022 unleashed economic chaos, also endorsed Donald Trump ahead of appearing at the same US conservative gathering as the presidential hopeful.

Ms Truss is set to address the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) near Washington DC on Thursday as she continues to promote her brand of conservatism as well as her upcoming book 10 Years To Save The West.

They sabotaged my efforts in Britain to cut taxes, reduce the size of government and restore democratic accountability

Liz Truss

In a Fox News opinion piece on Wednesday, Ms Truss wrote: “Because the left doesn’t just fight at the ballot box and seek a mandate for their agenda when it is election time; their agents are only too active in public and private institutions and what we have come to know as the administrative state and the deep state.

“I saw this for myself first hand as they sabotaged my efforts in Britain to cut taxes, reduce the size of government and restore democratic accountability.

“So I come with a warning to America, in particular aimed at my friends and allies in the Republican Party – the sister party of the British Conservatives – this is not a normal political battle that we need to fight.”

She claimed that “left-wing elites” will be “aided and abetted by our enemies in China, Iran and Russia”.

The article concluded: “In a vital election year for the US, it is why we don’t just need a conservative in the White House. We need one who is able to take on the deep rot of the deep state and lead the free world.”

Ms Truss resigned in October 2022 after the fallout from her botched financial statement, becoming the country’s shortest-serving prime minister after just 49 days in office.

Her speech at Cpac, where she will share a stage with Mr Trump and Reform UK founder and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, is titled Taking Back Our Parties.

It follows her recent launch of the Popular Conservatism movement in London as she seeks to rehabilitate her image.

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