Liz Truss Is Trying To Shore Up Support With Prospective Tory MPs

Former prime minister Liz Truss has been inviting Tory general election candidates to meet her as she looks to play a key role in influencing the direction of the party following the next general election.

One candidate who has received this offer from the erstwhile Conservative party leader said they believed Truss wanted to ascertain whether they were "one of us" who shared her brand of politics.

In October 2022, Truss was forced to resign as prime minister after just a few weeks in No 10 when swathes of Conservative MPs reacted furiously to her calamitous mini-budget.

Her plan to implement sweeping tax cuts triggered panic in the financial markets, which in turn caused interest rates to rise and is estimated to have cost the UK economy many billions of pounds.

Since then the Tory MP for South West Norfolk, who has held a number of cabinet roles, has sought to remain an influential figure within Conservative party politics.

She has continued to publicly make the case for what she describes as pro-growth policies including major tax cuts and reducing red tape, and last month was the headline speaker at the launch of a new right-wing movement called Popular Conservatism.

As well as a tax-cutting economic regime, the group also known as PopCon aims to push a right-wing agenda on issues like immigration, climate change and so-called "woke" politics. Other speakers at the Westminster launch last month included Conservative MP Jacob Rees Mogg and Lee Anderson, who on Monday defected from the Tories to Reform.

Tory sources say Truss is keen to play an influential role in deciding the next Conservative leader in the event that the party loses to the next general election to Labour. The most recent Sky News opinion poll tracker gave