Liz Truss has sparked speculation she is eyeing a political comeback alongside Nigel Farage after urging him to join the Tories and ‘help change our country’.
The ex-prime minister, who spent 49 days in Number 10 before resigning amid economic turmoil, expressed her wish for the former UKIP leader to return to the Conservative fold.
Both Ms Truss and Mr Farage are attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington DC – a major annual event in right-wing US politics.
In a speech at the conference last night, Ms Truss insisted that the world “needs a Republican back in the White House” but stopped short of directly supporting former President Donald Trump for a return to the Oval Office.
She also claimed that conservatives in power were the only way to “save the West” from adversaries such as Russia, Iran and China.
Liz Truss has sparked speculation she is eyeing a political comeback alongside Nigel Farage after urging him to join the Tories and ‘help change our country’
Both Ms Truss and Mr Farage attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington DC – a major annual event in right-wing US politics
The ex-prime minister and former UKIP leader spoke on the same panel at a CPAC event on Wednesday
In an interview with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon after her CPAC speech, Ms Truss said she was willing to work with Farage to change the Tories.
Mr Farage, who later founded the Brexit Party – now known as Reform UK – after leaving UKIP, has recently attended major speeches by Ms Truss.
In his capacity as presenter of GB News, Mr Farage attended Ms Truss’s ‘Great British Growth Rally’ at the Tory conference in October.
He was also in the audience when Ms Truss helped launch the new ‘Popular Conservatism’ – or ‘PopCon’ – faction of Tory MPs earlier this month.
In an interview with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon after her CPAC speech last night, Ms Truss said she was willing to work with Farage to change the Tories.
“I will work with whoever it takes to make our country successful, I will work with whoever.
‘And Nigel, I did an interview with him today. I would like him to join the Conservative Party and help change our country.”
The ex-prime minister also suggested that Bannon, who is facing fraud charges in New York, could “come to Britain and sort Britain out,” before joking that he “might be exiled in Britain.”
Ms Truss used the interview to complain that she was unable to push through her economic policies while in Downing Street, following the chaotic unraveling of her tax-cutting ‘mini-Budget’ in September 2022.
She said: ‘What I discovered was that the levers were not in my hands, the levers were in the hands of the Bank of England, in the Office for Budget Responsibility – they were not in the hands of the Prime Minister or the Chancellor.’
Mr Bannon replied: “Are you a conspiracy theory person? You are MAGA!’
Farage has recently hinted that he could rejoin the Tories – a party he left more than three decades ago after signing the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.
He said last week that he and Tory MPs such as Sir Jacob Rees Mogg will one day have to ‘be in the same party’ as he urged unity on the right of British politics – but remained coy about a possible future attempt to to lead British politics. Conservatives.
Farage has also left open the possibility of returning to the political frontline as leader of Reform UK ahead of the general election.
In her 15-minute speech to CPAC on Thursday, Ms. Truss took aim at “Chinos” — conservatives in name only.
“They’re people who think, ‘I want to be popular, I don’t want to upset people, I don’t want to look mean, I want to go to nice dinners in London or Washington DC, I want my friends to like me, I don’t want to cause any problems,” she said.
“What those people do is they compromise, they triangulate, and they lose the argument.”
Ms Truss also repeated claims that an ‘administrative state’ and left-wing interests had undermined her policies in No10.
“Conservatives are now operating in what is now a hostile environment and we essentially need a bigger bazooka,” she added.
Labour’s shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘After Liz Truss crashed the economy and sent mortgages soaring, she is now spreading conspiracy theories with Steve Bannon and leading a crazy fringe group to take over the Tory Party.
‘If Rishi Sunak had any backbone he would stand up and take action against her and the Tory MPs who indulge in this kind of damaging nonsense.
‘While Rishi’s recession is hitting Britain, it is clear that the biggest threat to family finances is the Conservative Party. Only Labor has a plan to restore the security of family finances.’