LONDON – Liz Truss isn’t laughing at the lettuce that survived her premiership.
I asked about the Daily Star’s on Monday live broadcast of a lettuce that finally survived the chaotic and collapsing period of Truss Market in Downing Street, the former British prime minister didn’t see the funny side.
« I don’t think it was particularly funny, I think it’s childish, » Truss told Irish broadcaster RTÉ – after criticizing the interviewer for even asking the question.
Truss – who walked out of office after 44 days while Lettuce was still going strong – spoke at the European Broadcasting Union’s NewsXchange conference in Dublin on Monday.
Since leaving issue 10, Truss has mainly spoken on foreign affairs and in particular on UK-China relations. She became the first former British prime minister to visit Taiwan in May and called for « more action » from the West to fight China.
But in her interview with RTÉ’s David McCullagh, Truss was questioned extensively about her short spell at no. of weeks.
Truss argued that the UK was, and still is, in « deep economic trouble » and that it needed to be « bold » to reverse declining economic growth. He admitted he did not have the support of Tory MPs and « could have gone a little slower » with his economic reforms.
The former prime minister also sparked fire in the UK media, which he attacked for treating politics like a ‘soap opera’.
“I think sometimes politics is treated like a branch of the entertainment industry, who’s up, who’s down, who’s saying what about whom,” Truss said.
« I think the level of understanding of economic ideas in the media and the ability to explain them is very poor indeed, » he added. A broad spectrum of economists criticized Truss’s economic reforms both before and after he briefly promulgated them in No. 10.
