Victim Of The ‘Deep State’: Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss Rebrands As Conservative Martyr At CPAC

Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss speaks during Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss borrowed on US culture war rhetoric in her appearance at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, blaming the British deep state for her downfall, claiming the civil service is staffed by “trans activists” and “environmental extremists.”

Truss, whose 49-day tenure at Downing Street was the shortest in history, joined forces with figures like Brexiteering GB News host Nigel Farage and former President Donald Trump’s political strategist Steve Bannon, signalling a deep dive into populism.

“Margaret Thatcher is back!” the US moderator said as Truss was introduced.

“I ran for office in 2022 because Britain wasn’t growing, the state wasn’t delivering, [and] we needed to do more,” the former prime minister said. “I wanted to cut taxes, reduce the administrative state, take back control as people talked about in the Brexit referendum. What I did face was a huge establishment backlash and a lot of it actually came from the state itself.”

She continued: “What has happened in Britain over the past 30 years is power that used to be in the hands of politicians has been moved to quangos and bureaucrats and lawyers so what you find is a democratically elected government actually unable to enact policies.”

Explaining that “quango” was the same “quasi non-governmental organisation” that Americans call “deep state.” Truss said: “We have more than 500 of these quangos in Britain and they run everything.”

Truss’ appearance at CPAC underscores her attempt to rebrand herself as a political martyr battling a liberal bureaucratic elite as she aims to reestablish herself within the global conservative movement. While visiting the US, Truss promoted her new book Ten Years to Save the West Lessons: From The Only Conservative in the Room, although marketed for its target US audience with coded language as Ten Years to Save the West: Leading the Revolution Against Globalism, Socialism, and the Liberal Establishment.

The former prime minister criticised the establishment for resisting her policies aimed at cutting taxes and reducing government size, claiming her downfall was orchestrated by those within the state with vested interests in maintaining the status quo.

In fact, Truss fell out of favour rapidly with her Conservative peers and the British public after a calamitous “mini budget” on September 2023 that alarmed financial markets, caused borrowing rates to spike, and led to a significant devaluation of the British pound. It’s estimated that UK stock and bond markets lost an estimated $500 billion in value during her time in charge.

In response to the crisis, she dismissed her Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, appointing Jeremy Hunt as his successor. However, these measures proved insufficient to salvage her political career.

Her narrative, however, played well into the hands of Bannon, who, speaking at the same conference, called for a relentless battle against the administrative state and echoed her remarks.

The CPAC summit, described as a gathering against the “globalist takeover,” featured a lineup of speakers known for their controversial stances, including Trump, Farage, and Argentinian president Javier Milei.