News / Reports

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss eyes UK top job

Monday, 14 February 2022 11:49 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 14 February 2022 11:49 PM ]

Amina Taylor
Press TV, London

Liz Truss has gone from political also-ran to holding one of the highest offices of state in the UK, the country’s representative to the globe.

Promoted by Boris Johnson from international trade secretary to foreign secretary with the additional job of solving the Brexit standoff with the EU as well as pushing through with the talks in Vienna on the revival of the JCPOA, Truss has only been an MP since 2010.

Whilst her in-tray may be overflowing, reports reveal the behind-the-scenes briefings Truss has had, this to gauge support as she fights a silent battle with Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the exchequer. He is seen by many as her rival for the PM position should Johnson quit or be ousted.

Truss’ shift from staunch Remainer to ardent Brexiteer via a Margaret Thatcher-style makeover has not convinced everyone of her Iron Lady credentials.

It’s a short walk from the foreign office to Downing Street. A fact that wouldn’t be lost on Liz Truss and her advisers. It is also a short political step from one of Britain’s three senior offices of state to the top job- just ask Boris Johnson who was foreign secretary before replacing Theresa May as prime minister.

For a politician with such an import diplomatic brief, scandals have followed Truss with question marks about her judgement. Highlights or low-lights include a racking up thousands on expenses whilst on a three-day trip to Japan, claims of cronyism and using the expensive members only club owned by a Tory donor during her stint as trade minister.

It seems Liz Truss’s major selling point is not her intellectual gravitas or political track record, the opposition points out she did not actually finalize a single new deal that the UK did not have with the EU as trade minister but rather she is the anti-Sunak, a flip-flopping ideologue who is not an ethnic minority. For some Conservatives, that may just be enough.

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