Liz Truss was publicly called out on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, after she was accused of revising her own time in office.
It all kicked off on Sunday morning when former prime minister Truss posted on X that slashing net UK migration would leave more Brits more than £1,100 better off in the long-term.
The Sunday Times’ deputy political editor, Harry Yorke reposted her message – but added: “A reminder that Liz Truss’s economic plans as PM were heavily predicated on increasing migration for the foreseeable future.”
Truss, who was in Downing Street for just 49 days in 2022, quickly hit back.
She claimed: “Not true. I wanted & still want to reduce migration & have clear policies to do so.
“There’s a major problem with how this is accounted for in OBR forecasts, reflecting Treasury orthodoxy. We urgently need to fix this.”
She added a quick plug, too: “More in my book Ten Years to Save the West out on April 16.”
It was after this post that things really started to turn sticky, as readers decided to add context in the community notes.
The first note, complete with a news article from 2022, read: “As Prime Minister Liz Truss sought to liberalise migration, not cut it.”
The second note, with another 2022 news story attached, read: “PM Liz Truss and her Chancellor met with Home Secretary Suella Braverman on 18th October 2022 to ask her to announce a liberalisation of immigration, in order to help hit growth targets.”
Despite the very public correction, Truss chose to keep the post up.
She’s not the first Tory politician to face the wrath of X’s community notes – Rishi Sunak was rebuked three times within the first eight days of 2024 on X after posting misleading claims.
Truss has been facing plenty of criticism over the last week as she seems to be moving further right in her attempts to rebuild her image, more than a year after being ousted from Downing Street.
Last week, she ventured to Washington DC to take part in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
She told GB News’ Nigel Farage that she would back Donald Trump for US president and she alleged the “deep state” was responsible for her shockingly short time in office.
Truss also did not call out former White House strategist Steve Bannon when he dubbed far-right figure Tommy Robinson a “hero” while standing right next to her, and she bizarrely alleged the newspaper, the Financial Times, is linked to a global conspiracy.