Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced a new political movement known as "Popular Conservatism" as part of her efforts to push the ruling party further to the right.
When Truss was prime minister, she only lasted 49 days on the job before succumbing to calls to resign from her own party in October 2022. This was primarily due to her disastrous mini-budget that spooked financial markets and sank the price of the pound.
The former prime minister's brief tenure failed to last longer than the shelf life of lettuce, which prompted memes comparing her to the vegetable. However, Truss was undeterred and remains a thorn in the side of her successor, Rishi Sunak, as the region gears up for a general election later this year that polls indicate he will lose.
On Tuesday, Truss is set to launch the latest grouping in the faction-ridden Tories: Popular Conservatism, also known as "PopCons." The political movement has secured the support of former Tory vice-chairman Lee Anderson as well as arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, as per the Times of India.
The aim of the new movement is to shape the Conservatives' manifesto by building support for hardline policies on immigration and tax. It poses a significant headache for Sunak as he is trying to keep centrists and right-wingers united in policymaking.
Political scientist Tim Bale of London's Queen Mary University said that the former prime minister is undermining her successor, which is unusual but not unprecedented. He cited Margaret Thatcher's attempts to thwart John Major in the 1990s.
Bale noted that what was unusual was the speed at which Truss sought to transform herself from being a deeply embarrassing failure to a supposedly principled critic. Since leaving office, the former prime minister has urged the British government to cut taxes, abandon some net-zero commitments, and increase the retirement age.
Steering the Conservative Party to the Far-Right
During the announcement of the new political movement, Truss said that it was time for the government to listen to voters and return to traditional conservative values on various issues. She noted that the fundamental issue now is that for years, conservatives have not taken on the left-wing extremists, according to Aljazeera.
Despite her efforts, Truss remains a deeply unpopular politician among the British public, which faces a cost-of-living crisis that economists argue was a result of her budget efforts. The Conservative Party, which has been in power in the region for more than a decade, is currently lagging behind the opposition Labour Party in the polls.
MP Simon Clark, an ally of Truss, urged Sunak last month to step down before the general election. However, the new political movement has said that they are not calling for the current prime minister to be replaced as Tory leader.
Director Mark Littlewood, who until recently led the Institute of Economic Affairs, said that the situation is not about Sunak's leadership. He added that he was personally immovable in his view that Sunak should lead the Conservatives into the next general election, said The Guardian.
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