Liz Truss vs Keir Starmer: ‘She won’t win, she just wants the oxygen’
Liz Truss has launched a public ‘cease and desist’ letter against Keir Starmer, saying his claims she crashed the economy with her mini-budget in 2022 are “false and defamatory”.
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In brief…
- Liz Truss claims Keir Starmer’s comments about her impact on the UK economy may have damaged her reputation.
- The News Agents say that Truss is more than capable of damaging her own reputation.
- They believe her public legal threat is an attention-seeking exercise, inspired by her new links to the US MAGA movement.
What’s the story?
There are three things we all know about Liz Truss: The UK's shortest serving prime minister, a crashed economy and the iceberg lettuce.
Although, we may need to strike one of those off the list, if legal action from Truss herself is successful.
The 49-day PM has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Keir Starmer, demanding he stops claiming she crashed the economy, saying these allegations are "false and defamatory", may have contributed to her losing her seat in the 2024 General Election and have damaged her reputation.
“I think it's fair to say that Liz can deal with harming her reputation all by herself,” says Lewis Goodall.
Alongside former chancellor of the exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, Truss launched a 'mini-budget' in September 2022 after coming to power, offering huge tax cuts – but funded through borrowing.
True, financial markets responded negatively and the value of the pound plummeted overnight but, Truss argues in her legal letter, there was neither a fall in the UK's economic output nor a rise in unemployment, both usually considered to be key signifiers of a crashed economy.
Truss's action comes after an unpopular budget from current chancellor Rachel Reeves in 2024 and the continued decline in the pound under Labour's government.
“She is basically saying that nothing she did over that eight week period left a lasting impact,” says Emily Maitlis.
“In other words, that the UK-specific spike in borrowing costs triggered by the mini budget actually fizzled out at the end of 2022, and the pound recovered, and because the markets recovered, she cannot really be held accountable for a crash.”
Labour MP and leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell has already said Labour has no intentions of complying with Truss’s legal demands, in a Parliament speech referring to the former’s PM’s work as a “kamikaze budget”.
What are Liz Truss supporters saying?
Mark Littlewood, a former Tory advisor and friend of Liz Truss, tells The News Agents it is more appropriate to refer to her failures as "missteps".
Truss nominated Littlewood for a peerage when she left Downing Street, but his name was removed from the list before it was submitted. He believes Rachel Reeves has caused more of a crash than his pal ever did.
Since 2015, David Cameron, George Osborne, Sajid Javid and Grant Shapps have all accused Labour of crashing the economy – and no current or former Labour leader has brought any legal action against their Tory rivals for these claims.
Littlewood argues that when making accusations of "crashing the economy" there are strict parameters of what that actually involves.
He also insists that even the most hardened free speech advocate would still want defamation laws to exist, and says the likely outcome of Truss's letter will be to cast a "question" over Starmer, Reeves and any other Labour MP repeating the claims she is contesting.
"If this letter or action casts some light on the debate of what went wrong in 2022 I think that's very welcome for political discourse," he tells Emily and Lewis.
The News Agents tackle Littlewood directly about Truss’s own words about her political rivals.
She was involved in a spot of potential defamation of her own recently when she attacked Jess Phillips, accusing the Labour MP and lifelong women’s rights campaigner of excusing “masked Islamist thugs” in relation to the grooming gangs scandal.
Littlewood advises Phillips to take legal action against Truss, if she considers this to be defamation.
“What situation would we be getting into if every politically charged-claim in politics was subject to defamation suits?” Lewis asks.
“I thought Liz Truss was a free speech warrior.”
What’s The News Agents’ take?
Emily and Lewis are in agreement – what Truss is doing with this public letter, and subsequent social media video, is an attempt to stir up “a bit of noise” for herself.
“I don't think this was ever intended to be something that would be a case she won,” says Emily.
“I don't think she's literally expecting the threat to work, but she is trying to raise questions about what actually happened to the economy in that eight week period of October 2022 because clearly she thinks it is still really hurting her.
“She's not going to win a legal case. He's not going to stop saying it, but she is getting the oxygen.”
Since leaving Downing Street, Truss has spent more time in the US supporting Donald Trump and his MAGA associates including Steve Bannon, and appeared as a speaker at right-wing fringe events in America.
Lewis sees this very public legal action as reflective more of her immersion in this world.
“I think it is indicative of a shift that we're seeing, particularly on the right,” he says.
“She is part of that MAGA world, right? She is taking cues from that, and if we were to see any sort of further developments in this regard, then I think it would be worrying.”