[ad_1]
Sign up for the View from Westminster e mail for knowledgeable evaluation straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster e mail
For a prime minister in workplace for simply 49 days, Liz Truss’s new e-book is jam-packed with jaw-dropping tales from her time in Downing Street.
The ex-Tory chief, who took over from Boris Johnson in the summer time of 2022, has provided a glance behind the scenes in her memoir Ten Years to Save the West.
From considering “why me, why now?” after studying the Queen had died to suggesting Boris Johnson’s canine left fleas in No10, The Independent seems to be at the key revelations from the bombshell e-book.
She thought ‘why me, why now?’ after Queen’s loss of life
Ms Truss has revealed that she thought “why me, why now?” when she learnt that the Queen had died – simply two days after she had been sworn in as prime minister.
The ex-PM mentioned she went into “a state of shock” when advised of the loss of life of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.
The memoir, serialised in the Daily Mail, particulars how the “machine kicked into action” when phrase reached No10 that the Queen wouldn’t have the ability to be a part of through video hyperlink, as had been deliberate, for the formal swearing in of latest ministers.
“My black mourning dress was fetched from my house in Greenwich, south London,” Ms Truss wrote. “Frantic phone calls took place with Buckingham Palace. I started to think about what on earth I was going to say if the unthinkable happened.
“On Thursday, we received the solemn news that the Queen had died peacefully at Balmoral. To be told this on only my second full day as Prime Minister felt utterly unreal. In a state of shock, I found myself thinking, ‘Why me, why now?’”
The Queen advised her: “Pace yourself”… And she didn’t hear
Ms Truss additionally revealed the late Queen advised her to “pace yourself” throughout their first and last assembly as prime minister.
Of her historic assembly at Balmoral in Scotland, which occurred simply two days earlier than the monarch’s loss of life, Truss says she and the 96-year-old the Queen “spent around 20 minutes discussing politics”.
“She was completely attuned to everything that was happening, as well as being typically sharp and witty,” she wrote.
“Towards the end of our discussion, she warned me that being prime minister is incredibly aging. She also gave me two words of advice: ‘Pace yourself.’ Maybe I should have listened.”
The final phrases the Queen mentioned to her: ‘I’ll see you again next week’
Ms Truss has revealed the final phrases the late Queen mentioned to her.
At the finish of their Balmoral assembly, the Queen is claimed to have advised the former PM: “I’ll see you again next week.” But she handed away two days later, and didn’t see Ms Truss once more.
Ms Truss’s husband predicted premiership ‘would all end in tears’
The former PM’s e-book particulars how her husband predicted her premiership “would all end in tears”.
She detailed the second she learnt that her predecessor, Boris Johnson, was compelled to resign.
Ms Truss was in Bali at the time as international secretary and mentioned: “As I walked along the beach in Indonesia I started crying.”
“Even Hugh [her husband], who predicted it would all end in tears, accepted that this was the moment I was expected to run and that if I didn’t, people would say I had bottled it,” Truss wrote.
Accuses Joe Biden of ‘utter hypocrisy and ignorance’
Ms Truss took goal at her US counterpart, claiming Joe Biden’s criticism of her tax-cutting mini funds was “utter hypocrisy and ignorance”.
The ex-PM lashed out at Mr Biden for becoming a member of a “pile-on” towards her plans.
She had wished to scrap the 45p charge of earnings tax for prime earners, and Mr Biden mentioned he “disagreed with the policy”.
“This was utter hypocrisy and ignorance,” Ms Truss wrote. She added: “The top rate of income tax in the U.S. was 37 per cent and only charged to people earning the equivalent of £483,094 and above. By contrast, the top rate in the UK was 45 per cent and paid by those on more than £150,000.”
Downing Street was ‘infested with fleas’
Ms Truss advised Boris Johnson’s canine Dilyn left fleas in No 10 in extraordinary extracts from her new e-book.
She claims to have spent a number of of her six weeks as prime minister “itching” as a result of Downing Street was “infested” with the pests.
“The place was infested with fleas,” she wrote. “Some claimed that this was down to Boris and Carrie’s dog Dilyn, but there was no conclusive evidence. In any case, the entire place had to be sprayed with flea killer. I spent several weeks itching.”
And in an indication of the brevity of her time period, Ms Truss says she ordered furnishings for Downing Street however was compelled to resign earlier than it arrived.
Press convention after mini-budget was like ‘officiating at my own funeral’
Ms Truss mentioned a press convention in the dying days of her administration felt like “officiating at my own funeral”.
She described her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng rejecting calls to remain in the UK whereas markets had been going into meltdown, as a substitute heading off to an IMF convention in Wasington, DC.
After sacking Mr Kwarteng, she described dealing with “the media frenzy alone” at a press convention to reverse the company tax minimize and clarify how his substitute Jeremy Hunt would restore confidence in markets.
“It was a pretty ghastly experience, which felt a lot like officiating at my own funeral,” she wrote.
She wished to sack the governor of the Bank of England
Ms Truss has additionally revealed she wished to sack the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, throughout her time as PM.
And her disastrous financial coverage – which led to her being ousted from workplace – may have been much more excessive as a result of she wished to “appoint new senior leaders” in the UK’s central financial institution.
She admitted the transfer would have “amounted to a declaration of war on the economic establishment”.
In the finish, she determined to “try to work constructively with the governor” of the financial institution.
She bemoans having to type out her personal hair and make-up
In one extract from the e-book, Ms Truss complained about having to type out her personal hair and make-up regardless of being prime minister.
She mentioned: “Despite now being one of the most photographed people in the country, I had to organise my own hair and makeup appointments.”
And she describes feeling like a prisoner in No 10, even struggling to get medication for a cough.
“On one occasion when I had a cough, my diary secretary had to go out in the middle of the night to buy me some medicine. This clearly wasn’t her job, but there was no one else to ask,” Ms Truss wrote.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink