Liz Truss works the crowd at CPAC

National Harbor, Maryland

“Oh, that’s Liz Truss,” a young attendee says as the former British PM passes us in the corridor at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “She sucks. What’s she doing here?”

Trying to sell books, apparently. Truss is one of two Brits — alongside mainstay Nigel Farage — addressing CPAC. Her visit forms part of the promotional tour for the US release of her book Ten Years to Save the West: Lessons From the Only Conservative in the Room, which has been handily retitled for US audiences: “Leading the Revolution Against Globalism, Socialism and the Liberal Establishment.”

Taking to the ballroom stage at the Gaylord National Convention Center on the outskirts of DC, Truss described her delight at being among “so many true conservatives.”

“The West has been run by the left for too long — and we’ve seen that it’s been a disaster,” she declared. The reason for her speech? Because “the very basis of western civilization is being undermined.” Crikey. Serious stuff.

In her many trips to the US since her self-immolation as prime minister, Truss has managed to pick up the vocabulary of the American right. Her remarks were full of buzzwords: “woke-onomics,” “DEI, ESG,” broadsides aimed at the West’s adversaries.

“The left are aided and abetted by our enemies overseas. That includes Russia, it includes Iran and most of all, it includes China,” she told the conference. “They don’t want economic competition, they want to undermine our very way of life, they want to undermine our societies and they want our societies to collapse from within.”

Truss positioned herself as a fierce defender of history against the mores of the left — then proceeded to retell her own. She rehashed for the crowd the platform she stood on in the Tory leadership contest, portraying herself as the populist conduit for the policies of her party’s base. But then, she said, “I faced an almighty backlash for those conservative policies that I tried to put in place.” From the media, from inside government, from the Bank of England and the IMF, even from President Biden.

“Can you imagine being attacked on your economic policies by the inventor of Bidenomics?” Truss said, to guffaws in the room.

The MP for South West Norfolk finished by throwing down the gauntlet to the MAGA faithful: “Conservatives are now operating in a hostile environment — we need a bigger bazooka,” she said, before issuing her backing for the GOP in the election ahead. “Of course we need a Republican back in the White House,” she said. “Of course we need Republicans in the Senate and in the House of Representatives.”

“We need Republicans who are not going to cave in to the Establishment,” she declared, to ensure that “Republicans are in power as well as being in office.” She expressed a distaste for “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only) and said that in Britain, we call them “Chinos,” meaning “Conservatives in name only.” For what it’s worth: Westminster political reporters I spoke to said they’d only ever heard Truss use this term — and in a different context, meaning “Chancellor in name only.”

“It’s great to be here and get the fresh injection of conservative energy — we need it,” she said to the crowd in the half-full room, who clapped half-heartedly. Then she headed out to the media row to sit for a TV interview with Farage — GB News, now in America, who knew? After, she spoke to former White House advisor Steve Bannon on Real America’s Voice. “I need a few more friends,” she told him, when Bannon asked if she’d welcome Farage back into the Conservative Party. This got an even better reaction from the gathered masses watching the taping. Truss abided by the golden rule of CPAC: play to the crowd. She’ll be back.