by Liz Truss’ attempt to restart her political career with the launch of a new right-wing Tory faction has been met with chaos – with some of her former closest allies staying put.
The launch event for Popular Conservatism – also known as the PopCons – was largely due to the announcement by former Truss chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng that he was stepping down from parliament in the general election.
Truss’ colleague, Sir Simon Clarke, was forced to pull out of the event because of his call for Rishi Sunak to be replaced – and Ms Truss was keen to avoid looking too sincere.
There was another blow when Ranil Jayawardena, another key Truss ally and former environment minister in his short-term government, decided to pull out of the event at the last minute.
It came as Nigel Farage – who was a star guest at the PopCons launch – dismissed the new group as Mr Sunak completely ignored all their ideas.
Ms Truss hit out at Mr Sunak’s government for failing to tackle “left-wing extremists” in her speech at the launch, which was attended by allies such as Dame Priti Patel, Lee Anderson, and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg .
The former PM – who only spent six weeks at No. 10 before being shamed by her own party – that the British want to see lower immigration and want to deport illegal immigrants, but that efforts “continue to be blocked”.
She also hit out at the Sunak government for allowing people to choose their gender and for “dealing with the anti-capitalists”, even though ordinary people believe “the horror that is going on is not courageous”.
Miss Truss also claimed that the ideology of the left masquerading as environmentalists is about “taking power away from families and giving it to the state”.
Using Donald Trump’s conspiracy rhetoric, she said the left was “on the march” in government institutions and corporations around the world.
As well as speaking out for a shadowy left-wing cabal, Ms Truss also claimed Britain was “full of secret Conservatives”, saying there were many people “who agree with us but don’t want to admit it because they think was not. acceptable at their workplace, at their school”.
Ms Truss also said she was never invited to dinner parties. “Too many of our colleagues are looking at the jobs they get when they leave parliament, they want to be popular at London dinner parties … I’m never invited to these parties.”
But Mr Kwarteng – once Mr Truss’s closest friend in politics – cast a shadow at Monday’s launch event when he revealed to X that he will be standing down in his Surrey seat of Spelthorne.
The Chancellor responsible for the mini-budget debacle has fallen out with his former boss – saying she was never “wired” to be Prime Minister and that even if they had survived the disaster they would have “blown something” economic collapse caused by their unfunded tax cuts. .
Mr Truss’s closest ally Mark Littlewood, the leader of the Commons, insisted he was not interested in removing Mr Sunak – claiming “this is not about the leadership of the Conservative party.”
The right-wing economist – who was given a peerage in the Truss resignation – said the intention was simply to try to “replicate or replace” any of the many right-wing caucuses held by Tory MPs.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg also launched an attack on “irresponsible” officials and courts, trying to draw parallels with British voter anger and farmers’ protests in France and Germany.
In his keynote speech, Sir Jacob said: “The age of the Davos man is over, international cables and quangos are telling hundreds of millions of people how to live their lives.”
He also opposed “activist judgement” and “out-of-touch oligarchy” as he and other right wingers sought to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Fellow alt-right Lee Anderson used his speech to argue that only “weird weirdos” have the task of achieving net zero in the battle against climate change.
The former Tory vice-chairman – who resigned from his role over Mr Sunak’s Rwanda bill – claimed net zero “never comes up” on the doorstep and urged the PM to ditch green levies.
Meanwhile, right-wing newcomer Mhairi Fraser, a potential Tory candidate, has attacked Mr Sunak’s “outrageous” smoking ban and other “nanny state policies”.
Mr Farage was largely dismissive of the event – insisting he was only there to cover it for GB News – as he denied any interest in joining the Conservative party in the future.
“I don’t want to join the Tory party,” said the Reform UK president. “Not at the moment, because of where they stand. And as far as this group is concerned – I’d rather be part of the Reformation because that’s the real thing.”
Mr Farage said that none of the PopCons ideas will be included in the Tory manifesto, arguing that the party is now “so far away from the center of gravity of most Conservative voters that it is almost false”.
Other senior Conservatives at the PopCons launch included staunch allies of Boris Johnson and prominent Sunak critics such as Andrea Jenkyns and Lord David Frost – the appointed peer behind the push to get rid of the current PM.
Other right-wingers in attendance included Truss loyalists Sir Jake Berry, and former Truss Shepherd Wendy Morton, and new Tory deputy chairman Brendan Clarke-Smith.
A poll published on Monday suggested Ms Truss is the least popular politician with the British public, despite her claims to be in touch with “popular” ideas. His net favorability score is minus 54 percent, compared to Mr. Sunak’s minus 27 percent, a Savanta survey found.
The expected Budget dispute between Mr Truss and Mr Kwarteng saw the pound fall and interest rates spike as markets bet on Britain. The massive incident cost the country £30bn, according to the Resolution Foundation, and the Tories’ poor poll ratings fell further.
