The favourite to become Prime Minister of the UK once nearly brought the country to the brink of war after angering Russia’s despotic President Vladimir Putin.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the Conservative MP for South West Norfolk, is battling it out with former Chancellor Rishi Sunak for the keys to Number 10 Downing Street.
The winner – if you can call them that – will take over from Boris Johnson on September 6 and have to contend with a whole host of issues, not least the war in Ukraine.
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But earlier this year, that seat might not have even existed thanks to the words of Liz Truss on national television.
The scary moment happened just a few days after Putin told his troops to invade Ukraine.
(Image: Getty Images)
Truss appeared on Sky News’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday programme.
While speaking about Russia, Putin and the invasion, she claimed that Putin could use “the most unsavoury means” to take the win in Ukraine.
She said: “This could well be the beginning of the end for Putin.
“I fear that he is prepared to use the most unsavoury means in this war.
“I fear this conflict could be very, very bloody.
(Image: Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
“I urge the Russians not to escalate this conflict but we do need to be prepared for Russia to seek to use even worse weapons.
“I think it would be hugely devastating – we need to avoid this at all costs.”
And about an hour later she appeared on BBC’s Sunday morning programme – literally called “Sunday Morning” – to continue her rant.
“The International Criminal Court has already said they are looking at what is happening in Ukraine and if I was a senior Russian official, or indeed the president, I would be very wary of taking further steps,” Truss said.
(Image: Getty Images)
And it was the threat of the ICC – which Putin doesn’t actually even recognise – and a threat that NATO would get involved, that made Putin angry.
Sources at the time claimed that Putin had put his nuclear deterrent forces on high alert because of the comments, and was ready to strike his enemies – mainly the UK – if needed.
Ignoring the fact that NATO did get involved and the ICC has opened a case against Russia, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time; “There were unacceptable statements about possible conflict situations and even confrontations and clashes between Nato and Russia.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
“I will not name the authors of these statements, although it was the British foreign secretary.”
The comments from Putin were basically dismissed by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who said: “We don’t see or recognise, in the sort of phrase or the status he described, anything that is a change to what they have currently as their nuclear posture.”
As of Saturday, Truss was the bookies’ favourite for the top job.
According to Bookies.com, she was 1/10 favourite, while Sunak was 6/1, and while the latter appears to be the favourite among MPs, Truss looks like she will take the keys to Downing Street as poll after poll of Tory members – who will vote on the winner – show that she is leading the way for them.
If she does win, it’s probably safe to say that she won’t be hosting any summits between Russia and Ukraine any time soon.
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