MILWAUKEE – Liz Truss has criticised Sir Keir Starmer for adopting “all the same policies” as President Joe Biden after the new Labour Government’s legislative plans were unveiled in the King’s Speech.
The former prime minister made the comments as she addressed a breakfast for members of the Pennsylvania delegation attending the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Ms Truss, who is in the US to support Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, said that unlike President Biden, Sir Keir can “walk in a straight line and… he can actually utter a coherent sentence”.
The ex-MP, who lost her seat in Parliament in the general election, claimed the new Labour Government was “appeasing our enemies, spending money on fruitless green projects and increasing the size of the welfare state”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Sir Keir vowed to “turn the page on an era of politics as noisy performance” and “start the work of rebuilding our country” with a programme of 40 pieces of proposed legislation.
The King’s speech, delivered by Charles in the House of Lords, included many of the policies championed in Labour’s manifesto, such as measures to reform the planning system to help meet the goal of building 1.5 million more homes.
Ms Truss urged Republicans to learn lessons from her own brief tenure as prime minister, which lasted just 49 days.
“I’ve learned how powerful the unelected bureaucracy is,” she said. “You have to win in November… you have to dismantle the leftist state… they are devious, they are ruthless and they are out to get you.”
Text describing Ms Truss’ mini-budget as a “disaster” was removed from Government documents released alongside the King’s Speech after she complained that it breached civil service rules.
She wrote to the head of the civil service, Simon Case, complaining that references to her tenure as prime minister were “untrue political attacks”.
Ms Truss has already drawn criticism from senior members of the Conservative Party for her decision to intervene in US politics during a hugely important election year.
On Tuesday, she was condemned by two former Tory foreign secretaries after she attacked President Biden for being “weak” and publicly endorsed the Trump campaign.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, foreign secretary from 1995 to 1997, told i that Ms Truss’s remarks provided “more evidence of her immaturity and yet another reason why she should never have been prime minister in the first place”.
“There’s a fundamental convention that, even with your closest friends or colleagues, you do not get involved in another country’s democratic election, when the people of that country are choosing a prime minister, a government or president, whatever it is, he added. “You have views, but you don’t interfere.”
His comments were echoed by another ex-Tory foreign secretary, Lord Hammond, who criticised Ms Truss for meddling in US politics.
Speaking at the breakfast event, Ms Truss also disclosed that she recently acquired a “Liberty Bell” shower head, created in the image of the famous, cracked bell in Philadelphia that serves as an icon of American independence and is visited by more than one million tourists annually.
The showerhead is a replica of one she first encountered during a visit to the late President Ronald Reagan’s ranch in California.
“I have to confess, I’ve never been to Pennsylvania,” she told delegates from the all-important swing state.
“But I do have in my possession a Liberty Bell showerhead… and I will be proudly installing this showerhead as a symbol of liberty and democracy, and of course, Pennsylvania,” she announced to a gathering sponsored by the Vaping Technology Association.
The “Liberty Bell” showerhead retails for $142 (£109), and boasts “48 customisable sprays, durable solid brass construction” and “a female brass ball connection”.
It was not immediately apparent whether the showerhead – designed to American specifications – would easily connect to a British supply line in Ms Truss’ Norfolk home.
Local reporters witnessed at least one of the delegates in the room falling asleep as Ms Truss’s address continued. Others told reporters afterwards they did not know anything about her background until she was introduced at the event.