Liz Truss not only made history as the shortest-serving Prime Minister – but she will also be known for her disastrous mini-Budget.
Her billions of pounds of unfunded tax cuts plunged the country into an economic crisis, which spelt catastrophe for her reign and ultimately forced her to resign. But despite her downfall, her cushty lifestyle doesn’t appear to have taken a knock.
Ms Truss, who reportedly once asked for public money to be used to cover a £3,000 lunch with Joe Biden’s trade representative, still has a lucrative fortune and the choice of several plush properties. Today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers her Autumn Budget, the first Labour Budget in 15 years, where she has warned to expect tax hikes and spending cuts in a bid to plug the £22 billion black hole left by the former Tory Government.
Despite inflicting turmoil on the economy, Ms Truss warned of “pain” to come. Taking to the airwaves just hours ahead of the Budget, the 49-day PM admitted “the economic situation was already bad” with taxes at a 70-year high.
But she said Labour “seem hell-bent” on making the current economic situation worse – just hours before Rachel Reeves delivers her Budget. As thousands continue to suffer from the cost of living crisis in the UK, the Mirror takes a look at Truss’ lavish lifestyle…
Staggering net worth
Although her prime ministerial career was short-lived, Truss didn’t need to worry about paying the bills after her mortifying exit from Number 10. Indeed, in October 2022, just as successor Rishi Sunak was preparing to take the reigns, Money Transfers reported that the 44-day PM had amassed a net worth of £8.4million.
Truss had managed to accumulate her vast fortune thanks to her numerous high-profile positions. Before entering the cutthroat world of politics, she was an industrial economist for Shell and also worked as deputy director of Reform, a public services think tank.
She took her first step into politics in 2010, as the MP for South West Suffolk, before going on to serve as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Childcare and Education from 2012 to 2014. The appointment of Minister for Women and Equalities followed in 2019 and in 2021, as she neared the top job, Truss was selected as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
During her stint as PM, it has emerged that Truss allegedly considered looking at stopping cancer treatment on the NHS, a decision that would have had a catastrophic impact on those unable to afford private healthcare. In an extract of Sir Anthony’s new book, it was claimed that one of the ex-PM’s senior advisers was told ‘that Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng were thinking they could still sort out the black hole with severe cuts’. They added: “We’ve been told that they are looking at stopping cancer treatment on the NHS.”
A spokesperson for Liz Truss said: “It is completely untrue that she ever considered it.” Meanwhile, Kwarteng told The Independent: “I wasn’t involved in any conversations about restricting healthcare, but that doesn’t mean the Prime Minister and her team didn’t discuss this.”
Property portfolio
Multimillionaire Truss also likely didn’t worry too much about where to live next after leaving her Downing Street apartment under a cloud of shame. Truss owns a comfortable family home in the pretty market town of Thetford, Norfolk – famed as the filming location for classic British sitcom, Dad’s Army.
The former PM also has a home in leafy Greenwich, South-East London, where neighbours include former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. In October 2022, The Guardian reported that her period townhouse was worth about £1.75 million, following Truss’s scathing attack on those who she claimed ‘take taxis from north London townhouses to the BBC studios’.
In May 2022, Truss was at the centre of a row over the alleged potential purchase of a £20 million New York ‘party pad’ for British diplomats. According to a leaked memo seen by the Mail Online, then-Foreign Secretary Truss was ‘very supportive’ of plans to purchase the freehold on a 19th Century Manhattan townhouse from disgraced art dealer Guy Wildenstein, who was this year found guilty of money laundering and tax fraud.
Despite Wildensein facing trail at this point, the memo stated the Foreign Office was ‘confident that there is no legal risk of purchasing the property from this individual and believe that media interest will be manageable’, adding ‘we are aware that the Foreign Secretary is very supportive’.
Denying this account at the time, a Foreign Office source told the publication: “The Foreign Secretary has not been consulted and has made no decisions on this issue. She has therefore not expressed any views.”
Work jollies
During her final months as Foreign Secretary, Truss clocked up a bill of nearly £2 million on overseas visits, according to an analysis from the Liberal Democrats, published in The Guardian back in October 2022. The hefty sum attracted a fair bit of criticism at the time, with Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran asserting that Truss ‘has quite literally been taking the taxpayer for a ride’. Moran went on to question how Truss could oversee ‘cruel cuts to vital public services when she’s been jetting around the world on ludicrously expensive visits, all paid for by hard-working families up and down the country’.
It’s clear Truss enjoys foreign travel – and she doesn’t exactly scrimp when it comes to expenses. In May 2023, Truss and her husband Hugh O’Leary enjoyed a £18,000 trip to Hawaii, where they visited the Honolulu-based think tank, the Pacific Forum.
The Times reported that the couple’s hosts paid for the luxury five-day trip, including flights which cost £15,520 and a £2,392 hotel stay. Truss and O’Leary were also given the use of the Windsor Suite at Heathrow Airport – a suite regularly used by the members of the Royal family and other VIPs.
More recently, Truss accepted a £20,000 trip from a mysterious US group with potential links to impeached former President Donald Trump. The trip took place back in February and saw Truss stay at the upmarket The Cloister – a five-star hotel on the private Sea Island off the coast of Georgia.
Advertised as a ‘small gathering of the great minds of today’, the event was organised by the Green Dragon Coalition, about which little is known. According to the group’s website, it ‘values selfless leaders who prioritise their nation’s welfare over personal re-election ambitions”., and aims to empower those with ‘the courage to resist the swamp”.
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Fox News)
In the register of members’ interests, Truss, who visited from February 1 to 5, recorded an approximately £19,541 donation ‘to attend a political conference’, made up of £14,871 on flights and £4,670 on accommodation for herself and a member of staff.
This wasn’t Truss’ only excursion across the pond this year. Back in July, she attended the Republican National Convention (RNC) IN Milwaukee, where she declared Trump to be ‘the leadership the West needs’. For all her enthusiasm, however, a number of attendees didn’t even know who she was.
In an excruciating interview with inews, Alvin Portee, a South Carolina delegate who is running for county coroner, said: “Liz Truss? No. What’s that?” Meanwhile, Deana Abiassi, from Texas asked: “I don’t know who that is… should I?” When informed of Truss’ former lofty office, she added: “I’m embarrassed I didn’t know that.”