A leaked recording reveals that the favourite to be the next prime minister has little grasp of the nation’s economic reality
In a televised Conservative leadership debate last month, Liz Truss was questioned about a passage in a book that she co-authored with other neo-Thatcherite luminaries in her party. British workers, it asserted, are among the “worst idlers in the world”. Not her words, parried Ms Truss, correctly judging that this kind of slander might not be helpful in fostering good relations between a potential prime minister and the country she wishes to lead. “Dominic Raab wrote that chapter.”
Mr Raab has pointed out that the authors of Britannia Unchained, published in 2012, took collective responsibility for its contents. But we do not now need to rely on his testimony. A leaked recording of Ms Truss in illuminating conversation, published by the Guardian this week, confirms that “idle” is precisely what she believes British workers to be. And more. Speaking privately when chief secretary to the Treasury – a post she held between 2017 and 2019 – Ms Truss deplores the “mindset and attitude” of workers outside London. The country is being held back, she says, because too many employees have little appetite for “graft”. The Brexit referendum allowed such backsliders to blame migrants for their own shortcomings and laziness, as productivity flatlined. They should put their back into it, like the Chinese. “If you go to China, it’s quite different, I can assure you,” Ms Truss sighs with a hollow laugh.
