The chopping and changing of prime ministers is starting to become a common theme in British politics. We, as a nation, seem to crave political instability. We foam at the mouths at the chance to rid ourselves of another PM. Perhaps, then, it was fate that I would interview Liz Truss at a time of such political upheaval. After all, who better to talk to at a time where Starmer is throwing in the towel, than the person who threw in the towel after just 49 days in office?
Indeed, one would expect that having been ejected from office in such dramatic fashion, that Truss would perhaps retire into a life of obscurity. But she has done anything but that. Instead, she has, over recent years, taken a prominent role in conservative movements across the world – having been involved with Popular Conservatism here in the UK, and speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the United States.
It is this refusal to fade away into the distant memory of the British electorate which I find rather interesting, and what spurred me to interview her in the first place. Serving as the Chairman of CPAC Great Britain, I was curious to talk to Truss about conservatism, the Conservative Party and what CPAC Great Britain actually is.
To properly understand the inner-workings of CPAC Great Britain, I believe it is necessary to first understand what ‘conservative’ means. Truss argues that at the heart of what it means to be a conservative sits a “belief in the nation state, a belief in individual liberty and a belief in the family” as well as what she would describe as “Christian values.” “Those are the sort of key tenets of it,” she says.
But she accepts that, in recent times, the idea of conservatism has become muddled and difficult to properly pin down. “Terms like populist, or conservative or libertarian – all of these terms get mixed up and people mean different things.” She makes the point that the “left have taken over all the institutions” and as a result of this, she does not wish to “conserve the institutions as they are.”
Such a rally against the establishment and supposedly left-leaning institutions is emblematic of Truss’ politics now, and she goes on to launch attacks against the mainstream political parties and the media, possessing elements of what she terms “deep rot.” ConservativeHome readers will be glad to know, however, that our outlet was cleared of such charges, as when I asked her if we had fallen victim to such forces she replied matter-of-factly. “No, obviously not.”
But with her understanding of what conservatism means now firmly in my mind, I pushed her on whether she still considers herself to be a conservative. She says yes, assuming one defines a “conservative as somebody who believes in a counter-revolution. I think the point is there people in the current Conservative Party who don’t want to take on the institutions.” Whilst she is quick to make the point that there are similar characters in Reform, the criticism raised against the Tories speaks volumes in and of itself.
Speaking of the Tories, I was curious to see if Truss recognised the Conservative Party as still being a small-c conservative grouping. After all, the clue is in the name. She famously criticised the previous Conservative administration at a number of points, arguing that the Generational Tobacco Ban was, for example, an unconservative policy.
She is careful not to provide a definitive yes or no to my question, however. “There’s always been a debate in the Conservative Party” she says, making reference to the factionalism during Thatcher’s premiership between the wets and the dries. “There are different elements in any party” and her goal is to bring “together all of the people who want to change the country.”
She goes on to criticise the mainstream political parties, alleging that “one of the problems with British politics is it’s been a fiefdom of the political parties” and that “the political parties have ended up getting captured by a lot of the same forces that the institutions got captured by.”
But, captured by what readers will ask? Truss claims that it is “progressivism, and their dominance. With their crazy ideas” and that, as a result of such beliefs, the UK has “been going in the wrong direction and sinking.”
With this war against progressivism waging on, Liz Truss has called on the right to unite. She claims that the challenges facing the right-of-centre are monumental, and that “this is an international battle for Western civilization against the progressive orthodoxy currently running Brussels, currently running London.”
Now were we to follow Truss’ advice and unite right, and implement proper conservative policies, she argues that Britain would be a country in which “people were more prosperous, where they were safer, where families were stronger, where the Church would be stronger.” And that, under Labour’s stewardship, Britain has seen the growth of an “anti-business, anti-success, anti-growth mindset.”
The former Prime Minister also offers her views on the pressing issues that CPAC Great Britain aims to resolve. One of the fundamental concerns of CPAC Great Britain is the supposed erosion of free speech, and its apparent suppression in the United Kingdom. Just recently, Truss wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling for him to reverse the refused entry of Dominik Tarczyński by the Home Office, on the grounds that it stifles free speech.
In the letter addressed to the Keir Starmer, Truss writes that “free speech is not meaningful if it only applies to approved opinions.” A defensible principle, yes, but one which she applies selectively. When I asked her what she made of the Home Office’s ruling to refuse entry to left-wing activists Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur in early June, Truss replied by alleging some type of major political cover up. “I think some of the left wing ones are just done as cover. It’s clearly targeted at the right. It’s clearly a political move” and more widely symptomatic of a “two-tier approach.”
It was similar to when I pushed back later in the conversation on the topic of censorship. Truss claimed that “the new left has new tactics, which are: suppress free speech, take over the institutions… use lawfare against the right.”
But when I asked her if the same charge cannot be levied against right-wing figures in the United States, such as Donald Trump who has repeatedly sought to cancel those on television who disagree with him, her response was steadfast. ”No. I think it’s just completely disproportional. This is disproportionately a left-wing tactic. There’s no doubt about that.”
CPAC Great Britain, aside from focusing on a number of different issues, has also come under immense scrutiny for the speakers it has brought in. Namely, Reform UK figures such as Nigel Farage, Matt Goodwin and Suella Braverman, who will all be speaking at the Conference in July.
I mention this because Reform have been challenged in recent times on the ‘conservative’ nature of their policies. Their support for nationalising key industries and taking partial ownership in Rolls-Royce is often seen as the antithesis of conservatism, and so I am curious as to why Truss would seek to platform them. When I press her on the issue, asking whether these individuals are truly conservative, she says that “the key ideas behind CPAC are about sovereignty and liberty, and I think the most important priority in Britain at present is the bureaucracy.”
She goes on, saying that “people have different views on economic policies” and that “there’s no political party at present in Britain that represents exactly what I think.” When I naturally follow-up with which party best represents her views at present, she glosses over the question.
All in all, the experience was most definitely eye opening. Truss made it clear that to, in her words, “save Britain” and to “save the west” that “very bold change” is needed. Who this change comes from is anybody’s guess, but she is confident that a conservative solution to the issues currently facing the country “needs to be possible.”