Liz Truss may have lasted only 49 days as British prime minister, but she is charting a new course to become relevant again as the darling of the American far right and as a bridge in a transatlantic conservative movement.
He’s spent the last two days sharing platforms with the likes of populist firebrand and election denier Steve Bannon at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor in Maryland.
The event has long been one of the most influential conservative gatherings in the world and today is a showcase for Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
His colleagues at home could learn something from the arguments made, Truss said.
“I think we have to win the battle of ideas, as conservatives, and we had to do it in the ’70s, we had to win the battle of ideas,” he told DailyMail.com.
Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss spoke to DailyMail.com during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor in Maryland.
He is promoting his new book, ‘Ten Years to Save the West,’ which is due out in April.
‘And yes, I see the conservative movement in the United States as an inspiration for that.
‘Now, if you look at what Governor Abbott has accomplished in Texas, he is an example of how to create an environment that is less hostile toward conservatives.
“And I think a lot of people in Britain want to see proper conservative policies in place, but we are operating in a hostile environment.”
Abbott has fought the Biden administration on immigration, erecting his own defenses with barbed wire and busing migrants to liberal cities far from the border, taking a hard line on abortion with the Texas Heartbeat Act and rolling back COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic. .
It’s all new territory for Truss, who was once seen as something of a centrist in British politics. He campaigned against Brexit, for example, and often spoke glowingly of how European regulations were good for Britain (the kind of globalist talk treated with suspicion on America’s isolationist right).
She replaced Boris Johnson as prime minister in 2022, but her plans to cut billions of pounds in taxes sent markets into turmoil, pushing up mortgage rates and sending sterling into free fall.
Since then she has been a frequent visitor to the United States. This time she is promoting a book, Ten Years to Save the West, which will be published in April.
It is a call to arms against the unelected “administrative state” that she believes ruined her premiership.
“For too long, the left has essentially ruled the free world. And they are sinking it,” she said.
‘We have these protesters in the streets of the United States, the border is completely out of control. Tax rates are higher. Regulation is increasing.”
The former Prime Minister sat alongside former UKIP leader Nigel Farage during a panel on Wednesday.
And in an interview with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon after her CPAC speech, Truss said she was willing to work with Farage to change conservatives.
Farage is a regular at CPAC, but Truss was making her first appearance as she looks to rebuild her reputation and place in the Conservative movement after a disastrous stint at Number 10.
People write on a Trump-themed bus at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Maryland
The danger is that these invisible forces are undermining the West’s position in a global power struggle.
‘I am a great supporter of Reagan’s doctrine of ‘peace through strength.’ That’s what we need to see,” he said.
‘I think the West is in grave danger. China has never been in a more powerful position. They are now very close allies of Iran and Russia.
The evidence is visible in the war in Ukraine and the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.
Their conclusions, however, could be more difficult to sell to the American right, which is subject to Trump’s isolationist control.
“I am very clear, you know that the entire West needs to support Ukraine because they are fighting our battle on the border of freedom in the same way that the entire West needs to support Israel,” she said. “I have been very disappointed by the setback in that regard.”
He insists that everyone he has spoken to intends to support Ukraine. However, he clearly takes issue with Republicans in Congress blocking a bill that would send $60 billion to keep Ukrainian forces armed and fighting.
And there are other potential differences with your new audience. He has nothing to do with the 2020 election denialism and says Biden won fairly.
CPAC has long been considered one of the most influential gatherings of conservatives in the world. These days he is part of former President Donald Trump’s power base.
The meeting featured a number of potential contenders to be Trump’s vice president, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
‘I think so. Yes,” she said.
His argument overlaps with Trump’s when it comes to the “administrative state” or the “deep state.”
His mistake in 10 Downing Street was not implementing the wrong policies, he said (cutting taxes, implementing fracking to lower energy prices, building houses, removing European laws that remain in force in Britain even after Brexit).
His mistake, he said, was thinking he could pull it off against the “administrative state.”
“What I discovered is the enormous power that unelected bodies, like the Office for Budget Responsibility, like the Bank of England, now have in Britain – I even had the [International Monetary Fund] giving their opinion on what we were doing,” he said.
‘What I want to say in my book is that it is not enough to be in a position of power and have the right policies, if you have a system that is hostile to conservatism, and that is what I fear we have in Britain.’
A January 6 themed pinball machine at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Maryland
Attendees were criticized for downplaying the 2021 attack on the US Capitol
Returning a Republican to the White House is a part of that, he said.
“I think this year is critical in global politics,” he said. And I want the Republicans to win this election. I fear our enemies will become emboldened if they don’t.
But the CPAC conference is a far cry from the British Conservative Party conferences held in posh seaside resorts.
A session at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center was titled “catfight” and involved commentators criticizing former first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris as they weighed the chances of one of them replacing Biden in the presidential vote. November.
The exhibitor hall featured a pinball game on Jan. 6, prompting accusations that attendees were making light of the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
And a giant ad for Truss’s new book rubbed shoulders with one for a biography of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whose recent interview with Vladimir Putin was so bland that even the Russian president mocked him for it.
None of this fazed Truss. Although she admitted that she was a little surprised by some of the outfits on display.
“There are fewer people in Second Amendment dresses at the Conservative Party conference or in Statue of Liberty costumes,” he said. “There’s definitely a lot more dressing up here.”