Andrew Marr on why he thinks Liz Truss will be the return of the radical right
1 September 2022, 16:12 | Updated: 1 September 2022, 17:34
Margaret Thatcher on steroids
Sangita Myska spoke to Andrew Marr who feels a Liz truss government will be the return of the radical right but she’d rather describe her as "Margaret Thatcher on steroids".
Following an article Andrew Marr wrote, Sangita spoke to him on the show to discuss why he felt Liz Truss defines the ‘radical right’.
He then gave his response to why he feels Liz embodies the radical right.
He said: “I take my text from a book she wrote with four other people in 2012 called ‘Britannia Unchanged’ and its basic argument was that Britain should be more like the so-called tiger economies of the far east with less labour regulation, lower taxes, and a much more free market.”
Andrew continued to explain the intention of his article for The New Statesman titled 'A Liz Truss government means the return of the radical right'.
“The point of my argument is that there is - as far as I can see - absolutely no free market, radical right, fast response to the kind of huge social, economical crisis that Britain is facing right now.”
He went on to explain that politics moving towards the left and Liz Truss pushing to the right is the “paradox that is going to define the next two and a half years of the Conservative government”.
“When you see, according to the polls, that more than 50% of Tories are in favour of the nationalisation of the energy companies and it goes up to over 80% of Labour voters, then you realise that something big is changing in the country,” he said.
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Sangita proceeded by asking: “How ideologically driven is Liz Truss, or do you believe she is the type of leader who will basically start rolling back the promises she’s making during the hustings?”
“Well she has a few problems,” Andrew began. “She’s very much aligned herself with the Brexit right of the party, she did write ‘Britannia Unchanged’ and she is seen as the flag bearer of the younger more right-wing part of the parliamentary party. But I don’t think she is that ideological.”
He then went on to offer his advice to the Boris Johnson's successor, “Change direction as soon as you become Prime Minister, announce a very large and generous all encompassing package of help to make people less scared over the winter.”
“So there is Andrew Marr describing Liz Truss as the fomentor of the radical right. I describe her as Margaret Thatcher on steroids,” Sangita stated.
She concluded: “I actually think Margaret Thatcher would not necessarily approve of all the tax cuts [that Liz Truss is proposing]. We’ve heard that time and time again from people who used to work for her.”
READ MORE: Liz Truss v Rishi Sunak explained: What are their policies and where do they clash?
