Free speech champ Liz Truss calls for Keir Starmer cease saying she ‘crashed the financial system’
The ‘Lettuce’ sent a ‘cease and desist’ letter to the Prime Minister insisting he stops making the statements – but has raised eyebrows given her posturing as a free speech champion
“Lettuce” Liz Truss has sent a legal letter to the current Prime Minister demanding that he stops saying she “crashed the economy”.
Lawyers for Britain’s shortest serving PM claim Sir Keir Starmer’s repeated assertions that she left the country in economic turmoil are “false and defamatory.” She has sent a “cease and desist” letter insisting that he stops making the statements.
The notice said they harmed the former Tory MP politically in the run-up to losing her South West Norfolk seat in the general election last July.
Her protestations come despite the ex-PM, who was famously outlasted by the Daily Star’s plucky lettuce, causing pain and pandemonium for mortgage-holders. And her attempts to silence the PM raised eyebrows given her posturing as a free speech champion.
Downing Street questioned whether she would be writing to “millions of people up and down” who it said had seen their mortgage bills pushed up by her policies.
The PM’s official spokesman said: “I don’t think the Prime Minister is the only person in the country who shares the view in relation to the previous government’s handling of the economy.
“I guess the question is whether she will be writing to millions of people up and down the country as well, who felt her economic record which pushed their mortgage bills up.”
Ms Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s chaotic mini-budget in September 2022, which included £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts, caused turmoil on the financial markets and led to her quitting No10 after just 49 days.
The letter argues that the market movement during her brief stint in No10 should not be classified as a crash of the economy.
“Of particular concern are the false and defamatory public statements you made about our client in the lead-up to the UK general election from late May 2024,” it reads.
“At a time when you knew or ought to have known that those statements were false; and the statements were likely to materially impact public opinion of our client whilst she was standing as the parliamentary candidate for the Conservative Party in South West Norfolk”.
The lawyers suggest his repetition in the lead up to the election “gives rise to a strong inference” that they were intended to “damage our client’s reputation and/or for political purposes.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
