It is with some regret we must report Liz Truss has been speaking her brains again – this time to cheer on President Trump’s efforts to bankrupt Britain’s national broadcaster.
The short-lived former prime minister has gone on America’s Fox News to give her support to Trump’s billion-dollar legal war on the BBC, claiming that a lot of Brits were “cheering on” the libel suit, that there was “a lot of excitement amongst Conservatives in Britain” about it and it would be “fantastic” were he to succeed in destroying its funding.
Trump has said he will take legal action against the BBC over how his Capitol speech was edited by Panorama, after the corporation apologised but refused to compensate him.
But while Truss’s immediate successor, Rishi Sunak, posed as a critical friend of the Beeb yesterday, using his Sunday Times column to write how “it is still a hugely valuable national institution, one that enhances this country’s standing and appeal”, the increasingly hard right Truss has thrown herself fully behind Trump’s declaration of war.
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“There is a lot of excitement amongst Conservatives in Britain at the moment that President Trump is actually taking the BBC on,” the 45-day PM said in a rambling appearance on Fox News.
“I believe the organisation needs to be defunded, and as well as suing the BBC, I think it would be fantastic if President Trump were to encourage stopping the British taxpayer funding what is fake news that is damaging Britain’s reputation.
“The BBC used to be the paragon of journalism across the world. It was respected. It’s now become a laughing stock and it needs to be put out of its misery.”
Perhaps, in a rare moment of lucidity, Truss might think of someone else who is an international laughing stock damaging Britain’s reputation?
