Adam Boulton: What Liz Truss and Donald Trump have in common

Published

12 months ago

April 21, 2024

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Liz Truss has much more in common with Donald Trump than just the first three letters of his surname.

Despite presenting themselves as “outsiders”, both enjoyed substantial political careers and reached the top of their profession as prime minister of the UK and president of the United States respectively.

In both cases, their periods in power ended in ways that outraged their opponents and many in their own Conservative and Republican parties. Economic chaos brought on by her rash policies forced Truss out of office after just 49 days in 10 Downing Street.

Trump lost the 2020 election, refused to accept his defeat and praised the mob who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to keep him in the White House.

Many thought they were finished for good. But like those who had laughed at their ambitions earlier in their careers, the nay-sayers were wrong again. Both have been reprieved and continue to be respected as forces in their parties.

Trump is currently the narrow frontrunner to beat Joe Biden and win re-election on 5 November, while Truss said this week: “I definitely have unfinished business. Definitely.”

Truss is still an MP and intends to stand again in her safe Tory seat in Norfolk. She was on her feet in the Commons this week to oppose Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak‘s attempts to prevent rising generations from smoking tobacco.

Book promotion

On Monday she will be back in Washington DC speaking at the conservative thinktank, the Heritage Foundation, to promote her grandly titled memoir Ten Years To Save The West.

Most of the book could be more accurately described as Forty Nine Days To Lose My Job, yet Truss is determined to place her personal fate in the context of a wider global ideological struggle. Her final chapter lists “important lessons we can learn so we can win”.

They include “We Must Dismantle The Leftist State”, “We Must Restore Democratic Accountability” and “Conservatism Must Win Across The Free World, Particularly In The United States of America.”

Liz Truss has always been a shape-shifter. Born of left-wing academic parents, she was first heard of 30 years ago as a young Liberal Democrat calling for the abolition of the monarchy. She supported Remain during the 2016 EU referendum before becoming a hard Brexiteer.

Right-wing populist transformation

Her latest comeback tour “confirms her transformation into a radical right-wing populist”, according to Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, the author of The Conservative Party After Brexit.

Like Trump, Truss rails against “extremist environmentalist dogma and wokeism”. Her vision of a failing British state which has been “captured by leftist ideas” is of a piece with Trump’s vision of “American carnage” unless he is there to Make America Great Again.

Of course, Truss backs Trump over Biden in the upcoming election. It is not usual practice for former British political leaders to give such a blatant endorsement in a foreign election.

“I think that our opponents feared the Trump presidency more than they fear the Democrats being in office,” she says. “I believe that we need a strong America… the world was safer [when Trump was president]”.

By “opponents” Truss means the “totalitarian regimes in China, Iran and Russia”. Her unwaveringly aggressive stance is probably where she differs most with Trump, and some of his Republican cheerleaders. He openly admires dictators, while encouraging his followers to block aid to Ukraine against Russia.

‘Prime Minister Truss’

All the same, her rhetoric strikes a chord with the cold warriors of the Heritage Foundation who are treating her with the respect she craves.

Billed American-style as “Prime Minister Truss” her hosts describe her as “one of the few British politicians who really understand the United States and the direction America’s conservative movement is taking”.

Heritage’s “Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom” previously had her over in February to deliver its annual keynote lecture.

In truth, Truss’s knowledge of the real Thatcher seems to extend little further than raiding the dressing-up box for some cosplay photographs when she was foreign secretary and wearing a tank as a fashion accessory.

Truss is odd but so is Trump. Ironclad imperviousness to looking ridiculous is a trait she shares with the ex-president. Both operate in a post-truth world in which what they say and how they act trumps objective facts.

Never to blame

If things go wrong, they are never to blame. Others – especially “Deep State” bureaucracies – have conspired against them.

In her memoir, Truss says that when she was prime minister she did not know about important facets of the national economy such as the vulnerability of LDI pension funds. She condemns the Bank of England for not telling her.

She claims the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) and the Treasury did her down even though she did not allow the OBR to review her mini-budget in advance and sacked the Treasury’s top civil servant on day one.

Now she complains about “a mass of quangos, independent regulators, official advisory bodies and assorted public sector organisations constraining and obstructing ministers at every turn”.

She wants to abolish the OBR, the United Nations, the UK Supreme Court and wants the current governor of the Bank of England to resign.

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‘Democratic accountability’

Taking absolute power by winning control of conservative factions and crushing any person or institution which stands in her way is the kind of “democratic accountability” she believes in.

Truss’s American friendships extend beyond the Heritage Foundation. She shared a platform at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) with Steve Bannon, who served as a political strategist in the Trump administration and was subsequently indicted for fraud.

When Bannon described far-right figure Tommy Robinson, co-founder of the English Defence League, as “a hero”, she remained silent. Trump’s friend Nigel Farage, whom Truss said she’d like to see join the Conservative Party, was also at CPAC.

Failed leaders evaded exclusion

The disaster of her premiership should have disqualified Truss from further active involvement in politics. She made the cost of living crisis much worse for most mortgage payers.

Unabashed, she is still receiving a polite hearing in Tory circles – including from the journalists she hand-picked for a limited round of interviews on the book’s publication.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has raised Truss several times with the prime minister at PMQs, referring to the “political wing of the Flat Earth Society” and “the tin-foil hat brigade”.

Sunak replied saying Starmer was “sniping from the sidelines”, with the PM not directly referring to Truss.

However, he previously accused her of “fairytale economics” during a leadership debate.

The Republican Party had a golden opportunity to get rid of Trump after the 6 January insurrection.

He would have been disqualified from future office if the Senate had voted for his second impeachment. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, thought about it but then the Republicans decided it was in their best electoral interests to keep him around.

Truss not to be underestimated

In this country there has been a lot of scoffing at Truss’s latest manifestation. It would be a mistake to laugh her out of court.

Her “unfinished business” includes being a player who will drag the Tories to the right after a general election defeat. She would not need acceptance from the markets or the whole country to become party leader.

She would just need to win over the ageing hundred thousand or so voting members of the Conservative Party. They elected her once before – she was UK prime minister only 18 months ago – and nobody likes admitting they made a mistake.

If Trump manages to be re-elected, their type of conservatism may look appealing to some card-carrying “Conservatives” here.

Truss as leader or senior shadow minister would keep Trumpism alive in this country.

The British Conservative Party would be well advised to think carefully before being trussed up for five years of opposition with her borrowed, far-right, self-obsession.

Politics

Planning reforms to ‘rewire the system’ and get Britain building – all while protecting wildlife

Published

2 hours ago

April 2, 2025

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Planning reforms to 'rewire the system' and get Britain building - all while protecting wildlife

Major developers will only deal with one regulator under planning reforms which ministers say will “rewire the system” to get Britain building – all while protecting the environment.

A review by former Labour adviser Dan Corry into Britain’s sluggish system of green regulation has concluded that existing environmental regulators should remain in place, while rejecting a “bonfire of regulations”.

But Mr Corry suggested there might be circumstances in which the government look at changing the wildlife and habit rules inherited from the EU, which protect individual species.

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These lie at the centre of the controversy of a £120m bat tunnel – the shed in Aylesbury which protects a rare breed from future high speed trains.

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The government has now explicitly ruled out any such change in this parliament.

Campaigners have questioned whether the changes go far enough and will make a major difference to the rate and scale of building in the UK.

Speaking to Sky News, Environment Secretary Steve Reed insisted that accepting nine of the recommendations from the Corry review would amount to wholesale reform.

The minister said: “We can get a win-win for economic growth and for nature. And that is why we are moving ahead with proposals such as appointing a lead regulator for major developments so that the developers don’t have to navigate the architecture of multiple regulators.

“They just work for a single regulator who manages all the others on their behalf. Simplifying the online planning portal.

“These are huge changes that will save developers billions of pounds and speed up decisions doing damage to the environment.”

Mr Reed insisted that there would be “no more bat tunnels” built, even though the Corry review suggests that more work needs to be done to look again at the relevant guidance.

It says: “Rapidly reviewing the existing catalogue of compliance guidance, including on protecting bats, will identify opportunities to remove duplication, ambiguity or inconsistency.

“Natural England has already agreed to review and update their advice to Local Planning Authorities on bats to ensure there is clear, proportionate and accessible advice available.”

The review will mean:

• Appointing one lead regulator for every major infrastructure project, like Heathrow expansion

• A review on how nature rules are implemented – but not the rules themselves

• Insisting regulators focus more on government priorities, particularly growth

Economist and former charity leader Mr Corry, who led the review, said it shows that “simply scrapping regulations isn’t the answer”.

“Instead we need modern, streamlined regulation that is easier for everyone to use. While short-term trade-offs may be needed, these reforms will ultimately deliver a win-win for both nature and economic growth in the longer run.”

However, Sam Richards from Britain Remade, a thinktank trying to get Britain growing, said that while the steps are welcome, the number of regulators that report to the environment department would remain the same before and after the review. He questioned whether this would have the impact ministers claimed.

Politics

Kentucky joins Vermont and South Carolina in dropping Coinbase staking suit

Published

2 hours ago

April 2, 2025

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Kentucky joins Vermont and South Carolina in dropping Coinbase staking suit

Kentucky’s finance watchdog has dismissed its lawsuit against Coinbase over the exchange’s staking rewards program, following its peers in Vermont and South Carolina.

Kentucky’s Department of Financial Institutions filed the stipulation to dismiss jointly with Coinbase on April 1, ending the state’s legal action against the exchange first filed along with 10 other state regulators in June 2023.

Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal posted to X on April 1, calling for Congress “to end this litigation-driven, state-by-state approach with a federal market structure law.”

Financial regulators from 10 states launched similar suits against Coinbase in June 2023, on the same day the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the exchange — a lawsuit the SEC dropped last month.

Seven suits against Coinbase still active

Alabama, California, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Washington and Wisconsin are the seven states that are still continuing with their lawsuits, which all allege Coinbase breached securities laws with its staking rewards program.

Vermont was the first state to end its suit against Coinbase, with its Department of Financial Regulation filing an order to rescind the action on March 13, noting the SEC’s Feb. 27 decision to drop its action against the exchange and the likelihood of changes in the federal regulator’s guidance.

The South Carolina Attorney General’s securities division followed Vermont days later, dismissing its lawsuit in a joint stipulation with Coinbase on March 27.

Kentucky’s decision to drop its case against Coinbase follows just days after the state’s governor, Andy Beshear, signed a “Bitcoin Rights” bill into law on March 24 that establishes protections for crypto self-custody and exempts crypto mining from money transmitting and securities laws.

The axed state-level lawsuits come amid a stark policy change at the SEC, which has dropped or delayed multiple lawsuits against crypto companies that it filed under the Biden administration.

The federal securities watchdog has also created a Crypto Task Force that is engaging with the industry on how it should approach cryptocurrencies.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Politics

Sir Keir Starmer says US-UK trade talks ‘well advanced’ and rejects ‘knee-jerk’ response to Donald Trump tariffs

Published

8 hours ago

April 1, 2025

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Sir Keir Starmer says US-UK trade talks 'well advanced' and rejects 'knee-jerk' response to Donald Trump tariffs

Sir Keir Starmer has said US-UK trade talks are “well advanced” ahead of tariffs expected to be imposed by Donald Trump on the UK this week – but rejected a “knee-jerk” response.

Speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby, the prime minister said the UK is “working hard on an economic deal” with the US and said “rapid progress” has been made on it ahead of tariffs expected to be imposed on Wednesday.

But, he admitted: “Look, the likelihood is there will be tariffs. Nobody welcomes that, nobody wants a trade war.

“But I have to act in the national interest and that means all options have to remain on the table.”

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Sir Keir added: “We are discussing economic deals. We’re well advanced.

“These would normally take months or years, and in a matter of weeks, we’ve got well advanced in those discussions, so I think that a calm approach, a collected approach, not a knee-jerk approach, is what’s needed in the best interests of our country.”

Downing Street said on Monday the UK is expecting to be hit by new US tariffs on Wednesday – branded “liberation day” by the US president – as a deal to exempt British goods would not be reached in time.

A 25% levy on car and car parts had already been announced but the new tariffs are expected to cover all exports to the US.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, earlier told Sky News he is “hopeful” the tariffs can be reversed soon.

But he warned: “The longer we don’t have a potential resolution, the more we will have to consider our own position in relation to [tariffs], precluding retaliatory tariffs.”

He added the government was taking a “calm-headed” approach in the hope a deal can be agreed but said it is only “reasonable” retaliatory tariffs are an option, echoing Sir Keir’s sentiments over the weekend.

Tariff announcement on Wednesday

Mr Trump has been threatening tariffs – import taxes – on countries with the biggest trade imbalances with the US.

However, over the weekend, he suggested the tariffs would hit all countries, but did not name them or reveal which industries would be targeted.

Mr Trump will unveil his tariff plan on Wednesday afternoon at the first Rose Garden news conference of his second term, the White House press secretary said.

“Wednesday, it will be Liberation Day in America, as President Trump has so proudly dubbed it,” Karoline Leavitt said.

“The president will be announcing a tariff plan that will roll back the unfair trade practices that have been ripping off our country for decades. He’s doing this in the best interest of the American worker.”

Tariffs would cut UK economy by 1%

UK government forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said a 20 percentage point increase in tariffs on UK goods and services would cut the size of the British economy by 1% and force tax rises this autumn.

Global markets remained flat or down on Monday in anticipation of the tariffs, with the FTSE 100 stock exchange trading about 1.3% lower on Monday, closing with a 0.9% loss.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% after a volatile day which saw it down as much as 1.7% in the morning.

However, the FTSE 100 is expected to open about 0.4% higher on Tuesday, while Asian markets also steadied, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 broadly unchanged after a 4% slump yesterday.