What Truss has been as much as since shedding seat – from lettuce row to Musk love-in

Liz Truss endured humiliation in Suffolk when pranksters unfurled a lettuce banner behind her during a speech.

The 49-day Prime Minister, whose mini-budget unleashed misery on millions and tanked the economy, walked off stage after saying the stunt wasn’t funny. It happened as she was singing Donald Trump’s praises at a publicity event for her book.

Ms Truss has been busy since she lost her South West Norfolk seat in a stunning General Election turnaround. In the past few weeks she’s told a bizarre story about a shower head at a Trump love-in in the US, been heckled at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and told Keir Starmer how to do his job. She’s also been thanked by Elon Musk for supporting him after he was accused of stirring up tensions during the recent riots.

Here we look at some of the things she’s been up to now she’s not an MP.

Fury over ‘not funny’ banner stunt

Ms Truss was speaking in Beccles, Suffolk, on Tuesday evening when she was targeted by campaign group Led By Donkeys. The former PM furiously walked off stage after seeing a banner behind her with a picture of a lettuce and the words “I crashed the economy”.

The sign had been placed above her seat, and was activated by remote control while she promoted her book. Ms Truss was oblivious as she voiced her support for Mr Trump, but was alerted to the banner by an awkward-looking man who walked onstage.

“That’s not funny”,” she fumed as she gathered her things and walked away. Footage of the incident was gleefully shared online by Led By Donkeys, which said: “She didn’t find it funny.” Ironically it came hours after Ms Truss voiced her support for free speech as she shared her backing for X/Twitter chief Elon Musk, who has been accused of stirring up tensions in the UK – more on that below.

Donald Trump love-in and bizarre shower head tale

Freed of her responsibilities as an MP, Ms Truss headed over the US to get involved in US politics. She flew to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month to see Mr Trump get the party’s nomination.

She made quite the impression while she was there, telling a delegation a bizarre story about a shower head. Addressing a breakfast meeting she revealed she has a Liberty Bell shower head “which is an exact replica of the showerhead that President Reagan has in his ranch in California”.

Ms Truss, speaking to a group of Republicans from Pennsylvania, said: “I have to confess I’ve never been to Pennsylvania. But I do have in my possession, a Liberty Bell showerhead, which is an exact replica of the showerhead that President Reagan has in his ranch in California, which I recently visited.

“And I will be proudly installing this showerhead as a symbol of liberty and democracy and of course Pennsylvania because you all know why you’re so important, which is this is a crucial state in order for President Trump to be reinstalled in the White House.” A huge cracked Liberty Bell is a famous landmark in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is an iconic symbol of American independence.

She branded another Trump presidency “the leadership the West needs”.

Standing up for Elon Musk – and getting thanked

Billionaire Twitter/X guru Elon Musk has come in for a lot of criticism in recent days after claiming the UK is heading for civil war. The super-rich Trump fan has set his sights on Keir Starmer, whining that far-right rioters are being treated differently from other criminals. He branded the PM “two-tier” Keir in one of his many online rants about the situation in Britain.

No10 has warned that people who incite hatred online will face action, and said social media firms must act to ensure their platforms aren’t used to spread hatred. After Mr Musk was accused of inflaming tensions, Ms Truss sprang to his defence. She wrote: “I am appalled by the attacks on free speech in Britain and Europe. We can’t be truly free without free speech. Good for Elon Musk and X for standing up to these bullies.”

He responded: “Thank you for your support.”

Getting heckled at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Ms Truss was heckled and booed as she ranted in defence of her disastrous mini-Budget at the Edinburgh Fringe festival last week.

The ex-PM was shouted at by a member of the audience to “just apologise” as she tried to make excuses for her economic choices, which crashed the economy and set mortgage rates spiralling. But Ms Truss refused the chance to say sorry, and instead blamed the audience for “the mess” the UK is in right now, with the crowd reportedly booing and scoffing in response.

After a request to apologise for the damage she did while in No10, she was reportedly met with boos when she claimed the audience member only cared about “trading political insults” which was the reason the country is in a mess.

“This is the kind of inane comment that I get from people who do not understand or care what is going on,” Ms Truss said. “There’s somebody in the audience who doesn’t even want to listen to my answer, who doesn’t want to understand what actually happened and all they care about is trading political insults and, frankly, that is why the country is in the mess we are in now because we’re not having a serious discussion about why the British economy is not succeeding.”

Dishing out advice on winning elections on US TV

Ms Truss has warned Kamala Harris that she’ll lose badly to Donald Trump as she dished out election advice. The ex-PM – who was dumped by voters earlier this month – went on Fox News to give her verdict on the “crazy situation” in America. Ms Truss slated Ms Harris, saying “there have been some brilliant American women in politics, but I don’t think Kamala Harris is one of them”.

She added: “She was given the specific job of sorting out immigration on the southern border. It is now at crisis point. She has not delivered as Vice President and she’s gotten the job now, because of the crazy situation with President Biden retiring at the last minute even though everybody in America knew that he was not up to the job.

Telling Keir Starmer he has ‘no idea’ what Britain needs

Ms Truss had plenty to say when the new Prime Minister outlined his vision for the next year in the King’s Speech. On July 17, after the State Opening of Parliament, Ms Truss lashed out at Labour’s plans, claiming they would lead to “further economic stagnation and cultural decline”.

She wrote: “Starmer’s King’s Speech shows Labour has no idea about the change Britain needs. Instead it expands the power of the unelected state and increases red tape on families and businesses.”

Among the moans she had were that the Government would bring in “Stalinist housing targets” in order to deliver much-needed homes. She also branded the proposed ban on youngsters buying cigarettes “unconservative” and “counterproductive”.