Liz Truss: Tony Blair was worst UK Prime Minister, not me

By Emma Gatten

AP·

1 Jun, 2024 07:31 PM3 mins to read

Then UK Prime Minister Liz Truss speaking at Question Time in the British Parliament in 2022. Photo / Jessica Taylor

Liz Truss has insisted that Tony Blair was the worst UK Prime Minister, not her.

The former Conservative Party leader defended her record from her 49 days in office in an interview with her local newspaper, pointing instead to Sir Tony and highlighting binding legislation he introduced on human rights, equality and climate change.

Truss, who is defending her South West Norfolk seat, told the Eastern Daily Press: “The worst Prime Minister in recent years is Tony Blair, who created things like the Equality Act, the Human Rights Act and the Climate Change Act.”

Truss repeated her claims that she had been “thwarted in delivering” policies backed by Conservative Party members by the machinery of the state.

“We have a problem in this country that someone elected on a mandate can’t deliver that mandate because the unelected state don’t want to deliver it,” she said.

She also defended her mini-budget, which included £45 billion ($93b) of tax cuts, the biggest in half a century, and was swiftly abandoned after the pound dropped to a 37-year low.

She added: “The media tend to go for the politicians instead of asking ‘what the CEO of Natural England is doing.

What’s the governor of the Bank of England doing?’ These people have a lot of power.”

She insisted that neither she nor Kwasi Kwarteng, her Chancellor, had known about liability-driven investments (LDI), a mechanism for managing risk in the pension market.

The LDI mechanism, which means funds often invest in long-term gilts (bonds known as gilt-edged securities), meant the effect of the mini-budget knocked £425b ($879b) off pension funds’ assets.

Truss has made several media appearances in recent weeks, including an interview on Right-wing platform Lotus Eaters, which prompted a call from Labour’s Jess Phillips for her to be de-selected.

Lotus Eaters was founded by Carl Benjamin, who in 2019, tweeted “I wouldn’t even rape you” at Phillips.

Truss has also made a call for Rishi Sunak to scrap all net zero targets in order to win the election.

The latest round of media appearances by Truss has prompted speculation that she may seek to run again for the leadership of the Conservative Party if they lose the election, but she told the Eastern Daily Press that she had no plans to go for the top seat, saying “once bitten twice shy”.

She faces competition for her seat, which she has held since 2010 on a 26,000 majority, from James Bagge, a former Conservative, who is standing on an anti-Truss platform, and Toby McKenzie, Reform’s candidate.