Workers need 'more graft' and lack skill and application, says Truss
Liz Truss launched an astonishing broadside against British workers, saying they needed "more graft" and suggesting they lacked the "skill and application" of foreign rivals, the Guardian can reveal.
In a leaked recording of Truss speaking when she was chief secretary to the Treasury, she also risked pitting Londoners against the rest of the country by attempting to explain the difference between the capital and other regions in the UK.
Truss, who has put patriotism at the heart of her leadership campaign, suggested the disparity was "partly a mindset or attitude thing".
In the recording, Truss - who held the Treasury post until 2019 intimated that there seemed little desire to change the working culture so that the UK could become more prosperous.
The highly disparaging remarks echo a controversial passage about British workers being among the "worst idlers in the world", from the book Britannia Unchained, which she co-authored in 2012 when she was a new backbench MP seeking to make her mark as a neo-Thatcherite.
In the first televised head-to-head Tory leadership debate last month, Truss claimed she had not written the offending chapter and blamed her fellow author, Dominic Raab.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 17, 2022-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 17, 2022-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
'I'm Staying' Sunak Says He Will Remain As MP If Party Loses Election
Rishi Sunak has said he will "of course" stay on as an MP if the Conservatives lose the next general election, in his first remarks about what he would do in that scenario.
Artwashing Row Are British Cultural Institutions Being Used To Boost Saudi Arabia's Image?
It was an unusual gig for the saxophonist and composer Yolanda Brown, who this week performed for a UK delegation on a private British Airways plane bound for Saudi Arabia.
Dead Hand Of Unshiftable Glazers Still Strangles United
The leaking roof felt likea too perfect metaphor for an asset that has continued to be milked ruthlessly for profit
Insect-Eating Bird Population 'Drops By 40% In Decade'
Swallows, swifts and house martins would have once been a common sight over British towns and cities, dextrously catching insects on the wing.
No Quick Fix If Labour Wins Election - Starmer
Keir Starmer has warned there will be no "quick fix" to the deep problems he will inherit if Labour wins the next election, unveiling his party's six election pledges amid a fanfare of endorsements from senior public figures.
Russia Kicks Out British Military Attache In Diplomatic Tit-For-Tat
Russia is expelling Britain's defence attache to Moscow in the latest diplomatic tit-for-tat, after the UK accused it of sponsoring espionage attacks against top British officials in a yearslong campaign of "malign activity".
Reversal Of Fortune Despite Warnings, Ukraine Is Struggling To Repel Attack
Russia's attack across the border north and north-west of Kharkiv Moscow, was telegraphed by predicted by intelligence western and anticipated by Ukraine.
US Aid Pier Finally Ready To Deliver Supplies To Gaza Citizens On Brink Of Famine
The US military has said the installation of a floating pier for the delivery of humanitarian aid off Gaza has been completed, with officials ready to begin ferrying supplies into the territory where much of the population faces imminent starvation.
May says Farage is no Tory and warns against rising populism
Nigel Farage is not a Conservative and should not be part of any Tory frontbench, the former prime minister Theresa May has said, in a speech warning against rising populism.
'Local legend' denied leave to remain after living in UK for 45 years
A former shopkeeper described as a Merseyside \"local legend\" is pursuing a legal challenge against the Home Office after he was refused indefinite leave to remain, despite living in the UK for more than 45 years.