Liz Truss has called anyone who believes she crashed the UK economy during her time in office “very stupid or very malevolent” in a new, eyebrow-raising interview.
The former prime minister – who was in office for a record-breaking period of just 49 days – was ousted by the Conservative Party over her disastrous mini-budget, which sent the pound into decline and the markets into turmoil.
But, two and a half years later, it seems Truss is still refusing to take responsibility for the chaos.
She told The Telegraph on Monday: “The people who claim I crashed the economy are not telling the truth. They are either very stupid or very malevolent.
“Because it’s clearly not true so they should be ashamed of themselves.”
It’s worth remembering the Bank of England had to step in to stabilise the country’s finances back in Autumn 2022.
The bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, later revealed the UK was hours away from total financial meltdown due to Truss’s £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts.
However, Truss seems to have a different recollection of events.
She has suggested that Bailey should resign over his response to the mini-budget and claimed the reaction to her policies was “groupthink rather than a conspiracy”.
When speaking to The Telegraph, Truss was also reminded that many mortgages climbed in the aftermath of the mini-budget.
She replied: “It’s not true. What I care about is the truth. I don’t care about what ignoramuses in the BBC say.
“If I cared about that, I wouldn’t be a Conservative.
“I’d be a shape-shifting Conservative-In-Name-Only, who was concerned about what people at London dinner parties thought.”
The former prime minister is currently promoting her new book Ten Years To Save The West.
In her efforts drum up publicity, she has also made headlines for claiming the Supreme Court should be abolished and saying Ukraine would be safer if Donald Trump was the US president.