Is Liz Truss plotting a comeback? Ex-PM tells US politicians she is determined to drag Britain out of ‘economic stagnation’ despite disastrous spell in Downing Street
- Liz Truss reportedly planning a comeback nearly 100 days after leaving No10
- Ex-PM held meetings with US politicians on pre-Christmas trip to Washington DC
- She said she ‘remained determined to rouse Britain from economic stagnation’
Nearly 100 days after she left Downing Street as Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister in history, Liz Truss is reportedly planning a political comeback.
The ex-premier made a visit to Washington DC before Christmas to attend a gathering of centre-Right figures from across the globe.
It has now emerged, following a series of private meetings while she was across the Atlantic, that the 47-year-old told US politicians she ‘remained determined to rouse Britain from economic stagnation’.
According to US website Politico, Ms Truss also made it known that she did not trust her successor, Rishi Sunak, to do the job.
Liz Truss is reported to have told US politicians she ‘remained determined to rouse Britain from economic stagnation’
Ms Truss was spotted in Washington in December, when she flew across the Atlantic to attend the International Democrat Union forum
The ex-PM is said to have made it known that she did not trust her successor, Rishi Sunak, to do the job
Ms Truss’s time in No10 was dominated by economic turmoil in the wake of her tax-cutting ‘mini-Budget’, which has since been almost completely junked by Mr Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
But while it is claimed she acknowledged ‘mistakes’ in the way she pushed ahead with her economic plans, Ms Truss is not said to have shied away from her low-tax agenda on her US trip.
Politico reported that Ms Truss told Kevin Hern, a member of the US House of Representatives, that she wanted to create a similar body to the Republican Study Committee – an influential group in Washington.
She expressed a wish for such a faction at Westminster to ‘house all of their ideas into a collective group in order to hold the current Prime Minister accountable,’ Mr Hern said.
He also revealed that Ms Truss floated the ‘Conservative Growth Group’ as a name.
This month, a group of two dozen MPs supportive of Ms Truss were reported to have gathered in Parliament – with the ex-PM in attendance – to form a group of the same name.
Another US political figure who spoke to Ms Truss on her December trip told Politico she expressed fears that Britain’s Conservative movement could ‘disappear entirely’ as she warned about the Tories’ electoral prospects.
Sir Jake Berry, who served as Tory chairman under Ms Truss and who accompanied her on her US trip, told the website that the party had ‘failed over a significant period of time’ to explain ‘why we are Conservatives in a compelling way’.
Ms Truss has maintained a longer silence in Parliament after returning to the backbenches than both her immediate predecessors, Boris Johnson and Theresa May
Ms Truss’s attendance at the International Democrat Union forum in Washington last month was at the invitation of its chairman, ex-Canadian PM Stephen Harper.
An ally of Ms Truss told MailOnline that she had used the visit to touch base with other centre-Right figures in a series of private meetings as she reflected on her time in No10.
Although she has remained as MP for South West Norfolk, the ex-PM has not spoken in the House of Commons since her last speech as PM.
It means she has now maintained a longer silence in Parliament after returning to the backbenches than both her immediate predecessors, Boris Johnson and Theresa May.
But the ally said, although she was not yet planning a specific intervention, that she would speak in the Commons chamber as and when an appropriate moment arose.