Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has dropped her biggest hint about her future yet, but warns the ‘deep state’ might foil her plans.
Liz Truss is Britain’s shortest serving PM (Image: Provided)
Liz Truss is eyeing a comeback to Parliament despite crashing out after just 49 days as Britain’s shortest-serving Prime Minister.
Revealing her plans on a podcast with an old Westminster ally, Ms Truss, 51, refused to rule out standing again – all whilst dodging every attempt to pin down what party’s colours she might wear.
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In a wide-ranging and often blistering interview on Free Future Podcast with Steve Baker, she suggested the Tories she once led were riddled with MPs who were not really conservative at all.
A “large majority” fell short of the mark, Ms Truss fumed.
The rot infecting her old team could be traced back to the David Cameron era, Ms Truss revealed, mocking the party’s old strategy of trying to “hug a husky or hug a hoodie”.
Yet the former PM went further still, warning that unless Britain adopted her ideas – which include binning the independence of the bank of England and dismantling what she called the “deep state” – then the country was hurtling toward “tyranny”.
She said: “Well, it leads to tyranny. That’s a reality. I mean, if you don’t have a democracy, that’s the alternative.”
Pressed by host Steve Baker, the former MP for Wycombe, on whether she would stand for election again, Truss simply replied: “Maybe.”
Asked who for, she said: “I just said maybe, I’m keeping all my options open.”
When Mr Baker pushed again, she said: “I’m not. I’m not even contemplating. I’m just not ruling it out, all right?”
Ms Truss also took a swipe at former Cabinet colleague Michael Gove, mocking his environmental credentials after he appeared alongside climate activist Greta Thunberg.
She said she had branded him a “wood-burning Gove” at the time, and questioned why the party was “spending our time banning plastic straws and this kind of stuff” instead of tackling bigger reforms.
The now former Prime Minister became the shortest service occupant of No10 just 49 days into her premiership.
She was outlasted by a lettuce in a now-infamous stunt organised by the newspaper the Daily Star.
Reform UK has previously suggested that they would not allow Ms Truss to stand for them at the next election.
A Liberal Democrat source told the Sunday Express they would inform Ms Truss to “jog on” if she asked to stand under their banner.
Daisy Cooper, the party’s deputy leader, accused Ms Truss of “peddling ‘deep state’ conspiracy theories” since leaving Parliament.
The Lettuce that outlasted PM Liz Truss (Image: Humphrey Nemar / dailystar)
She told the Sunday Express: “As if crashing the economy in just 49 days wasn’t bad enough, since her departure from Parliament, Liz Truss has spent her time peddling ‘deep state’ conspiracy theories about our civil service and central bank, cheering on JD Vance’s attacks on free speech in Europe, and calling for Trump-style politics to take hold in Britain.”
Ms Cooper added: “Her return to Parliament, whether in Badenoch blue or Farage turquoise, wouldn’t only be another chapter of chaos. It would be an attempt to import America’s conspiracy politics straight into Westminster. Britain needs a serious government, not more imported culture wars.”
In a blow to Ms Truss, her old party confirmed that they too would reject her application to stand.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “No, Liz Truss cannot stand for the Conservatives. The Conservative Party is looking to the future, with new candidates and new policies.
“Kemi is changing the party and that means new faces and new ideas. We wish Liz well, but she contributed to some significant problems that the party has had to deal with.
“We need to show we have learned the lessons of fiscal responsibility, living within our means and acknowledging where we have made mistakes. That’s what Kemi’s Conservative Party is doing now.”