‘There’s patriotism for you.’
Disgraced former Prime Minister Liz Truss has sunk even lower, as she cheered on Donald Trump’s attacks on the BBC and called for the President to destroy the corporation, leading to her being criticised for her fake patriotism.
Truss, whose premiership ended in disaster, and who was booted out of office after just 49 days, making her Britain’s shortest ever serving Prime Minister, has continued to make the headlines for all the wrong reasons since her exit. She has sought to blame the deep state for her disastrous time in office, while also pushing far-right narratives and conspiracy theories.
In the latest incident, Truss told Fox News that a lot of Brits are “cheering on” the US president, who has said he wants to sue the BBC for up to $5 billion after Panorama broadcast a misleading edit of a speech he made before the Capitol riots on January 6, 2020.
The BBC has apologised with two of its top figures, including the director-general, resigning amid concerns about impartiality.
Truss accused the BBC of peddling ‘fake news’ and of being ‘left leaning’, during a rambling speech on Fox.
She said: “There is a lot of excitement amongst Conservatives in Britain at the moment that President Trump is actually taking the BBC on.”
She claimed an apology from the BBC would not be enough and went on to add: “I believe the organisation needs to be defunded, and as well as suing the BBC, I think it would be fantastic if President Trump were to encourage stopping the British taxpayer funding what is fake news that is damaging Britain’s reputation.
“The BBC used to be the paragon of journalism across the world. It was respected. It’s now become a laughing stock and it needs to be put out of its misery.”
Her comments were condemned, with journalist and commentator Mehdi Hasan stating: “Think about how insane this is: not just a supposedly patriotic Conservative ex-British prime minister going on a foreign TV channel to encourage a foreign government to sue the BBC but also claiming that it costs the taxpayer money while calling for the taxpayer to pay Trump $$!”
Historian William Dalrymple posted on X: “Liz Truss, our worst & shortest lived PM, and the only living person who makes Boris Johnson look like a statesman, now wants Trump to destroy the BBC… There’s patriotism for you.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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