Former prime minister Liz Truss has claimed that Nigel Farage faces people within his own party who are trying to undermine him. In a Sunday Express interview, she drew a parallel with the fate of her Brexit-delivering predecessor Boris Johnson, who was pushed out by his own party.
Ms Truss said: “There are plenty of people trying to undermine him, including, I've got no doubt, people within his own party – just like the people who tried to get rid of Boris and ultimately succeeded within the Conservative Party.”
Claims of internal sabotage
Ms Truss’s own time at the helm of the Conservatives was brought to an end in the wake of market turmoil, but she remains adamant that the country would be better off today if the Government had stuck with her plan to unlock prosperity. She believes deep forces in the British establishment will fight to oppose radical change, and claims she also faced attempts to end her premiership from people who wanted to “install Rishi Sunak”.
Her comments come amid reports of tensions within Reform, with the i paper claiming a “sense of paranoia” has “gripped the upper ranks of Reform amid fears that an insider may be leaking sensitive information about Farage to the media”. In a further sign of turbulence, influential political commentator Tim Montgomerie had his membership of Reform suspended after criticising the party’s home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, in an interview.
Truss on opposition she faced
Describing the resistance she encountered in Conservative ranks and beyond when PM, she said: “They didn't agree with fracking, they didn't agree with cutting the top rate of tax. They didn't agree with restraining welfare spending. So, that's a problem in itself, but when you've got a state that is embedded with progressive ideology and also is over-powerful, you know, that is a pretty toxic combination.”
Convinced that Britain would be more prosperous today if her plans for growth had not been jettisoned, she said: “I've got absolutely no doubt that if the policies had been allowed to continue, the country would be in a better position. I've got no doubt.”
It was not just a case of MPs losing nerve, she argues, but powerful elements of the party opposing her. She said: “It wasn't just that there were MPs who were weak-willed… There were also people within the Conservative Party [who] were actively trying to thwart the plans. They were the people who'd got rid of Boris, who wanted to install Rishi Sunak. When you've got a cabal of people in the party who are actively trying to undermine you, that makes it a lot more difficult.”
Reform declined to comment on Ms Truss’s claim.
