Liz Truss

After leaving office, Truss repeatedly maintained that her programme had fallen victim to a 'powerful economic establishment', a lack of Conservative support and vulnerabilities in the LDI system rather than any inherent irresponsibility in her tax cuts. She stated that she had not been given a realistic opportunity to implement her programme.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

At CPAC in February 2024, Truss claimed that a British 'deep state', including bureaucrats, lawyers and activists, had blocked her programme. She was also criticised for failing to challenge Steve Bannon when he described Tommy Robinson as a 'hero'. In 2025, she announced an 'uncensored' platform intended to challenge mainstream media and the 'deep state', and subsequently developed her own podcast. On 9 September 2026, she relaunched the podcast on UKLive, a YouTube channel created by Mike Graham.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Directly implicated

Truss's lawyers sent Keir Starmer a six-page letter demanding that he stop saying she had 'crashed the economy', a statement she considered false and defamatory. The letter argued, among other things, that there had been no 'crash' in the sense of a fall in GDP or a surge in unemployment and that the financial turbulence had more complex causes.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Protagonist is the complainant

At the 2024 general election, Truss lost South West Norfolk, a Conservative seat she had held since 2010, to Labour's Terry Jermy. The defeat, by fewer than 700 votes, was seen as a dramatic electoral rebuke two years after her time in Downing Street.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Truss visited Taiwan and called on democracies to create a form of 'economic NATO' to reduce their economic dependence on China. Beijing denounced the visit as a provocation. Alicia Kearns, Conservative chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, described the initiative as 'Instagram diplomacy' and argued that it risked increasing tensions without delivering any tangible benefit to Taiwan.

State of the evidence

Documented

Truss secured a resignation honours list including political allies, Brexit architect Matthew Elliott and Conservative donor Jon Moynihan. The fact that a Prime Minister who had served only 49 days could nominate individuals for peerages and honours prompted calls to block the list and accusations of rewarding loyalty.

State of the evidence

Documented

The book 'Britannia Unchained', co-authored by Truss in 2012 with several young Conservative MPs, contained a passage describing Britons as among the 'worst idlers in the world'. During the 2022 campaign, an old recording of Truss was also circulated in which she argued that British workers needed 'more graft' and referred to a problem of mindset or attitude partly explaining low productivity.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Before the 2016 referendum, Truss advocated remaining in the European Union and warned that Brexit would create more rules, forms and delays. She subsequently became one of the Conservatives most strongly supportive of Brexit and described her previous position as a mistake.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

As Foreign Secretary, Truss was criticised for insisting on a diplomatic dinner at the private club 5 Hertford Street despite a cheaper option proposed by officials; the final cost was reportedly reduced to approximately £1,400. Shortly afterwards, she used a government Airbus for a trip to Australia, at an estimated cost of around £500,000.

State of the evidence

Documented

Asked by the BBC about Britons wishing to travel to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion, Truss replied that she would support them 'absolutely'. Conservative officials and former legal figures condemned the position as reckless and argued that certain forms of armed involvement abroad could raise issues under British law.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Truss promoted the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would allow the United Kingdom unilaterally to disapply certain obligations under the protocol negotiated with the European Union. The European Commission denounced the approach as incompatible with the United Kingdom's legally binding commitments and initiated or resumed several infringement proceedings.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

During the Conservative leadership campaign, Truss announced 'regional pay boards' intended to adjust new civil servants' pay to local living costs, with claimed savings of up to £8.8 billion. Campaign documents referred to a possible extension to the wider public sector, provoking an outcry among Conservative politicians concerned about pay cuts for nurses, police officers and military personnel outside London.

Attribution

Direct responsibility

The Truss government and her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, presented a 'Growth Plan' containing very substantial borrowing-funded tax cuts without simultaneously publishing full forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility. The scale of the package and the absence of independent costings at the time of the announcement caused deep concern among investors and economists.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Following the mini-budget, sterling reached a record low against the dollar and gilt yields rose sharply. Liability-driven investment strategies used by numerous pension funds faced substantial margin calls. On 28 September, the Bank of England launched temporary gilt purchases to prevent a material risk to financial stability; purchases ultimately totalled £19.3 billion.

State of the evidence

Documented

Ten days after the mini-budget, Truss and Kwarteng abandoned the removal of the 45 % top rate of income tax, one of the flagship measures that had crystallised political opposition and market concerns.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Faced with the continuing crisis, Truss dismissed Kwasi Kwarteng after only a few weeks at the Treasury, appointed Jeremy Hunt and accepted the reinstatement of the planned corporation tax increase. Hunt subsequently reversed most of the remaining tax cuts and shortened the duration of universal energy support.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

On the eve of Truss's resignation, Home Secretary Suella Braverman left the government after sending an official document from her personal email address and criticising the political leadership. That evening, a vote on fracking descended into a party discipline crisis: uncertainty over whether it was a confidence vote, allegations of physical pressure on MPs and confusion over whether the chief whips had resigned.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

On 20 October, Truss announced her resignation after acknowledging that she could not deliver the economic mandate on which Conservative members had elected her. The announcement came 44 days after she entered Downing Street; she formally left office on 25 October, after 49 days, becoming the shortest-serving British Prime Minister.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

As Lord Chancellor, Truss faced strong criticism for failing to defend High Court judges quickly and firmly enough after a newspaper branded them 'Enemies of the People' following the ruling requiring a parliamentary vote before triggering Article 50. Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas stated that she had been 'completely and utterly wrong' to believe that she could not criticise the press.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

As a student and Liberal Democrat activist, Liz Truss advocated the abolition of the monarchy in 1994. She subsequently joined the Conservative Party, became an MP and then a minister. This evolution has regularly been highlighted as an example of a highly changeable ideological trajectory.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

After becoming Environment Secretary following the initial launch of the pilot schemes, Truss supported continuing and expanding badger culls intended to combat bovine tuberculosis. This position was heavily criticised after an independent scientific panel concluded that the pilots had failed both in effectiveness and in meeting humane standards.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

As Children's Minister, Truss proposed allowing one adult to care for more young children, including up to four babies under one year old and six two-year-olds, in exchange for higher qualification requirements. Parents, professionals and experts opposed the idea, fearing a decline in quality and safety. Nick Clegg ultimately blocked the measure.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

An affair between Truss and Conservative MP Mark Field in 2004-2005, when both were married, became a local political issue after her selection as the candidate for South West Norfolk. Members of the Conservative association claimed they had not been informed and attempted to deselect her in 2009.

State of the evidence

Documented

Then deputy director of the Reform think tank, Truss co-authored 'Back to Black', a report proposing, among other things, charges for certain GP consultations, a 10 % reduction in doctors' and managers' salaries, the abolition of universal benefits such as child benefit and the winter fuel payment, and the abandonment of certain major military programmes. These proposals resurfaced during her 2022 campaign.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated