Person

Liz Truss

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Overview

Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down amid a government crisis, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. The member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk since 2010, Truss previously held various Cabinet positions under prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, lastly as foreign secretary from 2021 to 2022. Truss studied philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford, and was the president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats. In 1996, she joined the Conservative Party. She worked at Royal Dutch Shell and Cable & Wireless and was the deputy director of the think tank Reform. After two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons, she became the MP for South West Norfolk at the 2010 general election. As a backbencher, she called for reform in several policy areas including childcare, mathematics in education and the economy. Truss co-founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs and wrote or co-wrote a number of papers and books, including After the Coalition and Britannia Unchained. Truss was the parliamentary under-secretary of state for childcare and education from 2012 to 2014 before Cameron appointed her secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs in a cabinet reshuffle. Although she campaigned for the UK to remain in the European Union, Truss supported Brexit following the outcome of the 2016 referendum. Following Cameron's resignation in 2016, his successor Theresa May appointed her secretary of state for justice and lord chancellor, making Truss the first woman to serve as lord chancellor in the office's thousand-year history; in the aftermath of the 2017 general election, she was demoted to chief secretary to the Treasury. After May announced her resignation in May 2019, Truss supported Johnson's successful bid to become Conservative leader and prime minister. He appointed Truss secretary of state for international trade and president of the Board of Trade in July and subsequently to the additional role of minister for women and equalities in September.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“I embrace the chaos. I'm a thrillseeker.”
— "In an alleged conversation overheard by then Green Party candidate Zack Polanski", The Independent (4 December 2018).
“We need to look like we're enjoying ourselves because no one wants to go to a party where everyone is looking miserable.”
— Interviewed by Katy Balls, as cited in "The Bodycon Tory", The Spectator (13 April 2019).
“Thank you for putting your trust in me. I’m ready to hit the ground from day one.”
— Tweet of 20 July 2022, reproduced at "Penny Mordaunt eliminated as Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss reach final round" itemised at at 4.05 pm (20 July 2022).
“I am not claiming to be blameless in what happened, but fundamentally I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support.”
— "Liz Truss exclusive: 'I assumed upon entering Downing Street my mandate would be respected. How wrong I was'" The Telegraph (4 February 2023).
“[On the Daily Star livestream, in her last days as PM, to see if her period in office could outlast a lettuce] I don't think it was particularly funny, I think it's puerile.”
— Speaking at the NewsXchange conference in Dublin (19 June 2023), as cited in "Failed PM Liz Truss brands lettuce stunt puerile" The Times (19 June 2023).
“Now people are joining the civil service who are essentially activists – they might be trans activists, they might be environmental extremists – but they are now having a voice within the civil service in a way I don't think was true 30 or 40 years ago, so we just have a wholly new problem. And frankly, 100 political appointees [aides], doesn't even touch the sides in terms of dealing with that.”
— Speaking at the opening session of the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) in Washington DC, as cited in "Liz Truss targets 'trans activists'’, Blair and 'quangos' as she explains political meltdown at right-wing US conference", The Independent (London, 22 February 2024).

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

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Overview

Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down amid a government crisis, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. The member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk since 2010, Truss previously held various Cabinet positions under prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, lastly as foreign secretary from 2021 to 2022. Truss studied philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford, and was the president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats. In 1996, she joined the Conservative Party. She worked at Royal Dutch Shell and Cable & Wireless and was the deputy director of the think tank Reform. After two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons, she became the MP for South West Norfolk at the 2010 general election. As a backbencher, she called for reform in several policy areas including childcare, mathematics in education and the economy. Truss co-founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs and wrote or co-wrote a number of papers and books, including After the Coalition and Britannia Unchained. Truss was the parliamentary under-secretary of state for childcare and education from 2012 to 2014 before Cameron appointed her secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs in a cabinet reshuffle. Although she campaigned for the UK to remain in the European Union, Truss supported Brexit following the outcome of the 2016 referendum. Following Cameron's resignation in 2016, his successor Theresa May appointed her secretary of state for justice and lord chancellor, making Truss the first woman to serve as lord chancellor in the office's thousand-year history; in the aftermath of the 2017 general election, she was demoted to chief secretary to the Treasury. After May announced her resignation in May 2019, Truss supported Johnson's successful bid to become Conservative leader and prime minister. He appointed Truss secretary of state for international trade and president of the Board of Trade in July and subsequently to the additional role of minister for women and equalities in September.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“I embrace the chaos. I'm a thrillseeker.”
— "In an alleged conversation overheard by then Green Party candidate Zack Polanski", The Independent (4 December 2018).
“We need to look like we're enjoying ourselves because no one wants to go to a party where everyone is looking miserable.”
— Interviewed by Katy Balls, as cited in "The Bodycon Tory", The Spectator (13 April 2019).
“Thank you for putting your trust in me. I’m ready to hit the ground from day one.”
— Tweet of 20 July 2022, reproduced at "Penny Mordaunt eliminated as Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss reach final round" itemised at at 4.05 pm (20 July 2022).
“I am not claiming to be blameless in what happened, but fundamentally I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support.”
— "Liz Truss exclusive: 'I assumed upon entering Downing Street my mandate would be respected. How wrong I was'" The Telegraph (4 February 2023).
“[On the Daily Star livestream, in her last days as PM, to see if her period in office could outlast a lettuce] I don't think it was particularly funny, I think it's puerile.”
— Speaking at the NewsXchange conference in Dublin (19 June 2023), as cited in "Failed PM Liz Truss brands lettuce stunt puerile" The Times (19 June 2023).
“Now people are joining the civil service who are essentially activists – they might be trans activists, they might be environmental extremists – but they are now having a voice within the civil service in a way I don't think was true 30 or 40 years ago, so we just have a wholly new problem. And frankly, 100 political appointees [aides], doesn't even touch the sides in terms of dealing with that.”
— Speaking at the opening session of the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) in Washington DC, as cited in "Liz Truss targets 'trans activists'’, Blair and 'quangos' as she explains political meltdown at right-wing US conference", The Independent (London, 22 February 2024).

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.