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Liz Truss has said a Donald Trump victory in the US presidential election would put her in a really good mood, as it would show the ‘tide is turning’ against socialism.
The former PM made an appearance at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham two years on from her brief tenure as leader of the country.
In conversation with Telegraph journalist Tim Stanley in front of a packed – and largely supportive – crowd, she painted a bleak picture of a country on the brink of ruin due to a deranged Labour government.
When Stanley pleaded with Truss to ‘tell us something that will cheer us up’, she quickly responded: ‘Donald Trump might win! It would really cheer me up.’
Asked why the possibility got her so excited, she said: ‘The left have been winning the argument, mainly because the right haven’t been making the argument or haven’t been following through on the courage of their convictions.
‘And Trump winning in America will be a sign that the tide is turning.
‘Because at present we have Keir Starmer in London, we’ve got socialists in Australia, Canada, America, France, Germany.’
In an impressive mixed metaphor, Truss added: ‘We need to start turning the tide the other way, and this will be the first domino.’
She has previously declared the ‘world was safer’ when Trump led the US government and offered her endorsement earlier this year.
The one-time MP for South West Norfolk lost her seat at the 2024 General Election, in one of the biggest shocks of the night.
At the Tory conference event, she was asked to explain how that result fitted into her narrative of being a champion for the people against ‘establishment’ politicians who ended up winning a landslide.
She said: ‘I lost my seat largely due to Reform.
‘Reform took a lot of my vote in South West Norfolk, and I was frankly in a difficult position because I was running under a very orthodox Conservative Party whilst being an unorthodox Conservative myself.’
Truss dodged a question on whether she would consider a return to parliament at some point, though the crowd cheered when asked if they wanted to see her back in the Commons.
She also refused to endorse any specific candidate in the ongoing race to become Conservative leader, and said she had no plans to make an endorsement in the future.
Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat are the four hopefuls who have been making their case to members and MPs at the conference, ahead of a vote to narrow down the field to two next week.
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