Liz Truss defends her policy in the first response after her resignation from the British government

Liz Truss British Prime Minister

The British newspaper "The Independent" said that Liz Terrace, the former British Prime Minister, broke her silence after her disastrous period in office, blaming the "economic establishment" and her Conservative Party for her downfall.

Terrace's short premiership lasted just 49 days, as she was forced to resign after the unfunded £45bn package of tax cuts, presented by her Treasury secretary, Kwasi Kwarting, panicked the markets and hurt sterling.

UK stock and bond markets have lost an estimated $500 billion in value in the weeks since he took office from Boris Johnson last September, and the Bank of England has been forced to take emergency measures to stabilize the economy.

In a 4,000-word article in Britain's Daily Telegraph, Terrace now said that while she "takes part of the blame" for her Treasury secretary's disastrous micro-budget results, she believes her approach to driving growth was the right one.

The newspaper pointed out that Terrace also criticized Rishi Sunak, the current prime minister, although it did not mention him by name, for increasing the corporate tax from 19 percent to 25 percent, describing his policy as "economically harmful".

In her first detailed comments since leaving office last year, she wrote in her essay: "I don't claim to be blameless for what happened, but basically I had no realistic opportunity to have my policies enacted by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support."

And she continued, saying: I assumed upon entering the Downing Street Cabinet that my judgment would be respected and accepted. How wrong I was. While I expected resistance from the system to my program, I underestimated it.

"Similarly, it underestimated the resistance within the Conservative Party to a transition to a less taxed and less regulated economy," she added.

Terrace defended its experience, saying that although it was a "bruise", it believes that its policies in the medium term will lead to increased growth and thus reduce debt.

Liz Truss

British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September 5, 2022 until announcing her resignation 44 days after taking office on October 20, 2022. She has been a Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk since 2010. Liz Terrace has held various ministerial positions during the reign of Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, and Boris Johnson, most recently as Foreign Secretary from 2021 to 2022. She is the last of the fifteen British Prime Ministers to serve under Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, 2022, two days after being appointed to the post.

Terrace attended Merton College, Oxford, where she was Chair of the University of Oxford's Liberal Democrats. She graduated from Oxford University in 1996, then joined the Conservative Party. She worked in sales and as an economist, and served as deputy director of the Reform Research Center before becoming an MP at the 2010 general election. As an MP, Terrace advocated for reform in a number of policy areas including childcare, mathematics education and the economy. She founded the Conservative MPs' Free Enterprise Group, and has authored or co-authored a number of papers and books.

Terrace served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Children's Welfare and Education from 2012 to 2014, prior to her appointment to the Cabinet by Prime Minister David Cameron as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the 2014 cabinet reshuffle. Britain is Stronger in Europe” failed to have the UK remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum and came to support Britain’s exit from the European Union after the result.

Following Cameron's resignation in July 2016, she was appointed Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor by Theresa May, becoming the first female chancellor in the office's thousand-year history. After the 2017 general election, Terrace was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury. After May's resignation in 2019, Truss backed Boris Johnson's successful bid to become leader of the Conservative Party. After Johnson was appointed Prime Minister, he appointed Truss as Secretary of State for International Trade and Chair of the Trade Council, before appointing her as Foreign Secretary in 2021 to replace Dominic Raab. She is the first Conservative foreign minister and the second British female foreign minister. Terrace was appointed as the UK Government's chief negotiator with the EU and UK Chair of the EU-UK Partnership Council on 19 December 2021, succeeding Lord Frost.

In February 2022, a group of MPs and peers, including Andrew Mitchell, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Lord Hayne, Sir Simon Hughes, Sir Peter Bottomley and Stephen Kinnock, urged Liz Truss to sanction the Dubai Ruler's chief of staff, Mohammed Al Shaibani. The call came to punish the Emirati because of the “state-imposed persecution” of the two British businessmen, Ryan Cornelius and his business partner, Charles Ridley. The two men have served more than 14 years in a Dubai prison, after their original sentence of 10 years was extended to an additional 20 years, for fraud involving a $500m loan taken from Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB). Peers and MPs have called on Liz Truss to charge Mohammed Al Shaibani with sanctions under the UK's Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations and the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations.

In June 2022, a committee of MPs asked Liz Truss about the UK's relations with the Gulf states. Labor MP Chris Bryant questioned its foreign policy goals with regard to the Gulf, and also raised the issue of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi on the alleged orders of Mohammed bin Salman. She described the gears of the Gulf states as "partners" and "important allies" of the UK, noting that her focus at the moment is the "threat from Russia". I asked Bryant if Truss had ever raised human rights concerns with the Gulf, but she denied giving details of private discussions.