Little more than two years ago she was running the country - but today Liz Truss found herself told at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe she was living in a “parallel universe”. Audience members were left gasping in disbelief in a question-and-answer session littered with a series of extraordinary remarks from the former prime minister. Ms Truss said there was a place for Nigel Farage in the Conservative Party, and warned the party was at risk of collapse and being replaced by Reform UK if it did not stop shifting to the left.
She also stressed she “desperately” wants to see Donald Trump re-elected as the next US president, and said it was a “shame” former home secretary Suella Braverman was not standing to be the next Conservative leader. Ms Truss said while she does not agree with everything Nigel Farage says, “he is right about the need for change”. When asked if she can see Mr Farage in the Conservative Party in the future, the former PM said: “Yes - I want to see a Conservative Party at the next election with a clear plan to change the country.
“I don’t care who is in it. I care about whether they have the policies.” The open admiration for other politicians did not stop there.
Audience members audibly groaned as Ms Truss heaped admiration and praise onto Mr Trump, Argentinian Prime Minister Javier Milei and ousted Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg. One person who clearly is not in her good books is former prime minister Rishi Sunak - the man she conquered in t.