Liz Truss’ left-wing maths professor father was ‘so saddened’ about her metamorphosis from anti-monarchist Lib Dem to Tory that he ‘could barely bring himself to speak about it’
- Left-winged parents, John Truss and his wife Priscilla, took Liz on CND marches
- And John is claimed to be ‘sometimes furious’ about her moving away from left
- Miss Truss, now 47, was also leader of the Lib Dems at the Oxford Union in 1990s
- She recently said she regrets comments she made then about the Monarchy
Liz Truss’ left-wing academic father was apparently ‘so saddened’ at her metamorphosis from an anti-monarchist Lib Dem to a Tory that he finds it difficult to talk about it, according to reports.
A former neighbour of maths professor John Truss claims he was ‘sometimes furious’ and could ‘barely bring himself to speak about’ her being a Conservative candidate when she first stood in 2005.
His college, the University of Leeds, has also reportedly banned his colleagues from speaking about Miss Truss as well, The Times reports.
Miss Truss, now 47, has been quite open about her left wing background, revealing how she went on Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) marches.
The woman touted to be the third female PM after fellow Conservative leaders, Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, recalls they would also chant ‘Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, out, out, out’ while being at marches in front of the Faslane nuclear submarine base while she lived in Scotland.
Miss Truss has also recently said she regrets making comments about abolishing the Monarchy.
Liz Truss’ (left, at a Lib Dem conference) left wing father is revealed to be so ‘sad’ at her politics that he finds it difficult to talk about it, reports say. A former neighbour of the academic John Truss (right), an emeritus professor of pure mathematics, claims he is ‘sometimes furious’ at her being a Conservative leadership candidate
Liz Truss, Britain’s Foreign Secretary and a contender to become the country’s next Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative party, pictured as she answers questions as she takes part in a Conservative Party Hustings event at Wembley Arena, in London
Liz Truss (right) spent a cosmopolitan childhood in Paisley, Leeds and Canada, as her academic father moved between teaching posts. John Truss and his wife Priscilla, were both Left-wingers who took their daughter on CND marches (pictured with a CND banner)
TURNING RIGHT: At the Tory conference in 1997. After a brief flirtation with the Liberal Democrats, Ms Truss moved to the Right after encountering Conservative students at Oxford University
The former neighbour also said that Miss Truss’ mother, nurse and teacher, Priscilla – who he spoke to before she was selected as a Tory candidate in 2005 – is backing her daughter.
From child of radicals to the door of No 10… How Liz Truss was set on the path to challenge to be Prime Minister
By Glen Owen for the Mail on Sunday
It was the moment when the young Liz Truss became, in her words, ‘radicalised’.
As a child, the Foreign Secretary was infuriated to be presented with a ‘Junior Air Hostess’ badge when she boarded a KLM flight with her parents – while her three brothers received ‘Junior Pilot Badges’.
‘I just thought, “Don’t tell me what I can do or what I can’t do”,’ the potential next Prime Minister recalls.
It was a formative moment in a cosmopolitan childhood spent in Paisley, Leeds and Canada, as her academic father moved between teaching posts. John Truss and his wife Priscilla, were both Left-wingers who took their daughter on CND marches.
After a brief flirtation with the Liberal Democrats, Ms Truss moved to the Right after encountering Conservative students at Oxford University.
Her political journey took her from chanting ‘Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, out, out, out’ as a child to addressing the Tory Party conference in 1997 with Mrs Thatcher in the audience. Ms Truss is pictured here aged 12 during a year at an elementary school in Canada, before returning to study at Roundhay comprehensive in Leeds.
A source close to the family said: ‘Liz had a vibrant, character-forming childhood. With three older brothers, she had to fight for everything. It was a very solid, lower middle-class upbringing, with loads of friends on free school meals. It was a warm and supportive environment to grow up in.’
Ms Truss cites the ‘air hostess’ moment when she discusses what she calls the ‘cult of female exceptionalism’. She once said: ‘Mrs Thatcher did not consider women to be the equal of men, but their superior…
‘Well, I don’t normally disagree with Mrs Thatcher but I do on this occasion. Because I think it’s very important that we reject the idea that women are superior…. or make better bosses.
‘I think it’s just as bad as the cult of male exceptionalism: the idea that men are more decisive, mentally stronger or better leaders.’
‘She said she was quite torn. She’d agonised over whether to support her because she was her daughter, or not to support her because she was a Tory,’ he told The Times. ‘In the end, she decided that family ties should win out.’
In July, the Daily Express also alleged that the Foreign Secretary’s relationship with her father has been impacted by her ‘conversion to extreme right-wing politics’ and he is really ‘appalled’ by it, a colleague said.
Another university source said: ‘John is distraught at the policies his daughter is advocating in her bid to become PM.’
But Miss Truss has repeatedly disavowed her former left wing views and called a speech she gave advocating for the abolition of the Monarchy a ‘mistake’ after a clip resurfaced of her at the Lib Dem conference in 1994.
The Conservative leadership candidate told reporters in Peterborough in July that she regretted the remarks which took aim at the Royal Family ‘almost immediately’ after she made them when she was 19.
In a clip unearthed, by Newsnight after she was announced in the final two candidates to be PM along with Rishi Sunak, the politician was recorded speaking about how she surveyed a ‘reactionary-looking’ trio of voters who told her that they had had ‘enough’ of the Royal Family.
The Foreign Secretary who used to be the leader of Oxford University’s Liberal Democrats has recently said she now understands that the Queen and the rest of the Royals are ‘key’ to the success of the UK.
She became a Conservative in 1996, and today Miss Truss lengthened her lead over Rishi Sunak in the race to become the new Tory leader and the Prime Minster after Boris Johnson stepped down.
In the clip shared by Newsnight, Miss Truss told the conference: ‘We Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all.
‘I was being interviewed by Newsnight earlier this afternoon and we were filmed asking members of the public what they thought about the Monarchy.
‘We came across a group of three people. I’d say they were around 50, 60 [years of age]. [They] looked fairly middle class, rather smart and in fact rather reactionary to be perfectly frank.
‘We asked them they’re opinion of the Monarch, do you know what they said? They said: ‘Abolish them. We’ve had enough’.’
She also went on to say during the same speech that she agreed with former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown on the Monarchy.
‘I agree with Paddy Ashdown when he said: ‘Everybody in Britain should have the chance to be a somebody,’ she said in Brighton.
‘But only one family can provide the head of the state. We Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all. We do not believe people are born to rule.
‘We believe in referenda on major constitutional issues; we do not believe people should be born to rule, or that they should put up and shut up about decisions which affect their everyday lives.’
Ms Truss is pictured here aged 12 during a year at an elementary school in Canada, before returning to study at Roundhay comprehensive in Leeds
Favourite: Liz Truss, pictured in the House of Parliament after she saw off Penny Mordaunt to make the final two in the Tory leadership contest
Miss Truss was seen speaking about how she surveyed a ‘reactionary-looking’ trio of voters who told her that they had had ‘enough’ of the Royal Family
PARTY LEADER: Wearing a crown at 12 in Canada. As a child, the Foreign Secretary was infuriated to be presented with a ‘Junior Air Hostess’ badge when she boarded a KLM flight with her parents – while her three brothers received ‘Junior Pilot Badges’
Asked when she realised she did not want to scrap the monarchy, she told reporters in Peterborough in July: ‘Almost immediately after I’d made that speech.
‘I was a teenager at the time and I do believe that people who never change their mind on anything and think the same at 16 as they do at 46 are, well, first of all they’re not normal people like I am, and secondly, you know,
‘I’ve got the ability to learn from mistakes I’ve made, things that I’ve done that are wrong and move on.’
Miss Truss is now also seen to be on the right of the party. ‘Under my leadership, I would start cutting taxes from day one to take immediate action to help people deal with the cost of living,’ she has said.
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