- Liz Truss accuses Rishi Sunak of “trashing” her record, leading to Tory election defeat.
- Truss claims Sunak’s failure to cut taxes and uphold Conservative principles alienated voters.
- She believes the public will desire a Tory government in five years, criticizing the party’s left-leaning tendencies.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has openly criticized her successor, Rishi Sunak, for the Conservative Party’s recent landslide election defeat. Truss claims that Sunak “trashed” her record and mishandled the narrative around mortgage rates, leading to voter disillusionment.
Truss also pointed out that many voters have shifted their support to the Reform Party, which she sees as a direct consequence of the Conservative Party not adequately addressing leftist policies introduced by previous Labour governments.
Truss Criticizes Sunak, Predicts Tory Resurgence
Liz Truss, who served a brief tenure as Prime Minister, has laid the blame for the Conservative Party’s significant election loss squarely at the feet of Rishi Sunak. In a scathing article in the Sunday Telegraph, Truss accused Sunak of undermining her legacy and failing to defend Conservative values, particularly regarding economic policies like tax cuts.
Truss contends that Sunak’s strategy of promoting Labour’s narrative about the causes of rising mortgage rates misled voters and detracted from the party’s core message. She believes that this approach not only alienated traditional Conservative supporters but also failed to attract new ones, resulting in a severe electoral backlash.
Furthermore, Truss expressed concerns that the Conservative Party had strayed too far from its ideological roots, adopting policies that echoed those of former Labour leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. This, she argued, had caused long-standing supporters to lose faith and switch their allegiance to alternative parties like Reform.
Despite the current challenges, Truss remains optimistic about the Conservative Party’s future. She predicts that in five years, the electorate will once again seek out a Tory government, provided the party realigns with its foundational principles and addresses the issues that led to the recent defeat.
Liz Truss’s comments reflect a broader debate within the Conservative Party about its direction and strategy. Her criticisms of Rishi Sunak highlight the internal divisions that need to be addressed for the party to rebuild and regain voter trust in the coming years.
“Rather than taking on the Leftist agenda, far too often it was bought into – and the election result was our punishment for having done so.”