Liz Truss to launch ‘Popular Conservatives’ faction of Tory MPs
Liz Truss is set to launch a new movement dubbed Popular Conservatives, or Pop Cons, on Tuesday in a bid to rally right-wing Tory MPs ahead of a general election this year.
The short-lived former prime minister is set to address the central London event alongside ex-Cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lee Anderson, who recently quit as deputy Tory chairman over the Rwanda Bill.
Hardline policies
The grouping aims to pile pressure on Rishi Sunak to cut taxes, to adopt hardline policies on immigration and leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Headline speaker Sir Jacob will rail against an “activist judiciary” and an “out-of-touch oligarchy” in his remarks to the gathering.
He is expected to say: “Domestically, we have seen power go from the democratic parts of the constitution to the appointed parts. This has made the government less responsive to the needs of the people and closer to those who have a hierarchical, internationalist view of government.
“Popular conservatism is about restoring this balance and returning power to Parliament while taking it away from quangos and a judiciary that has become more political.”
The former business secretary will say that the UK system, with the apex of power being the King in Parliament, has been “eroded in recent years by an activist judiciary exemplified by the living document theory of the ECHR”.
Rwanda
Hardline Tory MPs have demanded the UK dismiss the ECHR amid concerns European judges could scupper the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after a last-minute injunction by the Strasbourg court effectively grounded the first flight in 2022.
Sir Jacob denied the grouping is seeking to oust Mr Sunak, who has failed to overturn Labour’s significant poll lead.
He told The Westminster Hour: “We have this habit of changing leader too often which I think has been a mistake and is why I am very keen that we stick to our current leader because changing again would make us look utterly ridiculous.”
Sir Jacob said he would like to see Nigel Farage join the Conservative Party.
The founder of Reform UK is said to be planning to attend the launch in his role as a GB News presenter, amid ongoing speculation over whether he might join the Tory party.
Sir Jacob also dismissed claims the new grouping is a vehicle for the rehabilitation of Ms Truss, who was forced to quit as prime minister after just 44 days in No 10 which saw a botched financial statement unleash economic chaos.
Since stepping down, Ms Truss has continued to promote her tax-slashing, small-government brand of conservatism.
While that continues to enjoy support among some in the Conservative Party, polling published on Monday suggested she is the least popular politician with the general public.
A survey by Savanta indicated her net favorability score is minus 54%, compared to Mr Sunak’s minus 27%.
Truss ally Mark Littlewood, the outgoing head of the libertarian think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs – who is behind the new movement, wrote in The Telegraph: “It is up to the Conservatives to make the case for economic freedom and lower taxes.”
The Pop Cons join an already crowded field of right-wing Conservative factions, including the Brexiteer European Research Group, the New Conservatives and Common Sense Group.
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Monster Raving Loony Party has a new rival or is it a Twisted Sister tribute act…
Political historians are going to love ‘The Tory Party-The Last Hurrah’…
ARTD thought she was great. Is his membership card No1? Or will that go to his mate, 30p? She tanked a nation on behalf of the IEA and is still supported. Media (BBC, looking at you) put up people from that org and Truss fans as some sort of experts in their field with no provenance or checks (Mogg wrong on just about everything). We could follow the money but IEA will not divulge the source’s. Tufton St has a lot to answer for to the damage to the UK but boot out the Cons or they finish the job… Read more »
Well said. And remember Andrew RT Davies , thimble of knowledge, other classic quote, “Wales needs a bit of Dom” in reference to Dominic Cummings before he (Cummings) became a pariah. Can you imagine ARTD as First Minister? It would be like witnessing two bald men fighting over a tub of hair gel.
All the wrong names all in one place. She’s so bitter that she was only given the time to destroy hundreds of thousands of lives when there are millions more left to go. Why don’t they call themselves ‘The Traitor Group’? After all the definition of the word ‘Traitor’ is ‘a person who betrays someone or something such as a friend, cause or principle’. Now we can ditch the ‘friend’ part but surely the ‘cause’ and ‘principle’ of public service is to govern for the good of the public. Can anyone see this in her, or their, intentions? ‘Popular Conservatives’?… Read more »
Bring back the lettuce!
I agree. Besides longevity, It had more personality and economic prowess than Truss. Lettuce pray for its return. 🤞 🥬
The next lettuce will outlast the Pop Cons.
When will this buffoon shut up? No shame. She caused so much damage in her short tenure as PM. The irony is, people actually pay and listen to this politically transient clown? 🤡 🇬🇧 #LizTruss #Idiocrat
I can just picture the three of them sitting at their own wee table in the corner of the tory party canteen, nobody wanting to be their pals.
“who’s that lot then?”
“oh that’s the popular conservatives. splitters!”
I thought, as far as Truss was concerned, the canteen was Zac Goldsmith’s half brother and Tory £20,000 donor Robin Birley’s £3,000 eatery 5 Hertford Street
I am nearly 70, and in all that time I have never,untill recently, seen any political party in the UK, attack the judiciary like this bunch. This is a warning to everybody, of the direction of travel of certain elements in the Tory party. A vote for the Tory’s is now becoming a green light for the dismantling of human rights in the UK. Elected dictatorship is what the UK is moving towards, and we need to get out before it’s too late.
Is this a joke? Because I cannot think of ANYONE less suited to be a Leader of anything, along with possibly Nigel Farage!
If it is it is on us…
If I was a sculptor I would model Truss’ head in wax and make latex heads for Halloween…
Oh heck, the speeches are out.
Mogg on form as a clueless twerp.
Truss and Sunak, trapped in worlds of their own…
Take Rishi, the child of medics, makes it sound like he was waiting in the slips to catch an early wicket/diagnosis, he will at some point claim it as his own victory…
Kwasi Kwarteng does all of us a favour and packs it in…
After he had a wine and cheese party before his disastrous IEA budget and nigh on ruined people in the UK.
Wonder if anyone made a mint shorting the £ after that shindig.
How can anyone look at the state of the UK as whole or should that be “hole” and seriously think that giving the tories another 4 years is the right thing to do. I think when my farming neighbours put their puke inducing tory placards up later this year, I’ll just have to get my rattle can out
‘Popular Conservatives’ isn’t that an oxymoron?
She’s formed it, now, like Farage and his idiotic, warped rabble, ignore her. Populists without publicity are like fish out of water.
If Liz Truss has anything to do with this new faction, it should be called ‘Unpop Cons’. I’m surprised she didn’t leave to be a hermit somewhere after the economic damage she wrought. Totally incompetent, and totally shameless.
I wonder what the good folk of Greenwich call her, a bookseller I used to know has his shop there, I think I will send him a postcard of the Mawddach and ask him…
One of the best bits of London and the option to commute by river-bus is the best way to access the city…
I fear that this is something we need to take seriously. The Tory far right are planning a long term strategy. They know that they will lose the election, so they will let Sunak take the blame for the defeat so that they can argue that ‘they lost because they weren’t right wing enough.’ Then allow let Starmer take the blame for the state of the country because its not going to get better anytime soon, so that they can promise a fresher alternative come 2029. Look at Donald Trump in the US for example, most Americans acknowledge that he… Read more »
I agree we must keep a watch both on Cardiff Bay and far beyond these shores, as what happens internationally could seriously harm us… Talk of war by the half-wits in charge of our military with the power to introduce conscription and march the population between 18 and 40 off to war is chilling… When the Red Cross ladies start playing the old war songs were are in trouble, (brexit brought them all out again)… This is not a drill… From rationing to food banks in less than three score and ten… ‘We’ve never had it so good’ and probably… Read more »