UK's New Prime Minister Singing New Tune on Queen These Days
"Abolish the monarchy," a young Truss once said
Just two days earlier, Liz Truss was before Queen Elizabeth II, accepting appointment as the next prime minister of the United Kingdom.
But by Thursday, Truss was out in front of 10 Downing Street in London — the official residence of the prime minister — to announce to a grieving nation that Elizabeth had passed away at age 96, after more than 70 years of rule.
“We are all devastated by the news that we have just heard from Balmoral. The death of her Majesty, the Queen, is a huge shock to the nation and to the world,” Truss said, referring to the palace in Scotland where the queen was residing at the time of her death. “Queen Elizabeth II was the rock on which modern Britain was built. Our country has grown and flourished under her reign. Britain is the great country it is today because of her.
“She ascended the throne just after the Second World War. She championed the development of the Commonwealth from a small group of seven countries to a family of 56 nations, spanning every continent of the world,” Truss continued. “We are now a modern, thriving, dynamic nation. Through thick and thin, Queen Elizabeth II provided us with the stability and the strength that we needed. She was the very spirit of Great Britain, and that spirit will endure. She has been our longest ever reigning monarch.
“It is an extraordinary achievement to have presided with such dignity and grace for 70 years. Her life of service stretched beyond most of our living memories. In return, she was loved and admired by the people in the United Kingdom and all around the world,” she concluded.
Truss once gave voice to a much less charitable view of the British monarchy, however.
Video of Truss as a young woman and member of the Liberal Democrats has surfaced from 1994, before she would join the Tories just a couple of years later.
“We came across a group of three people. I’d say they were around 50, 60. Looked fairly middle class, rather smart. In fact, rather reactionary, to be perfectly frank,” Truss can be seen to say, to laughter. “We asked them their opinion of the monarchy. Do you know what they said? They said, ‘Abolish them! We’ve had enough!’
“But believe it or not, conference, they didn’t say this once,” Truss continues in the video. “We met another group of people, and another group of people, and all three groups of people said. ‘Abolish the monarchy.’ In fact, conference, we couldn’t find a single monarchist outside the Royal Pavilion. How ironic!
“I believe that the disillusioned of Brighton should have a chance to vote on this issue, because I believe, like most Liberal Democrats, in democracy. Democracy with a capital ‘D,’” she concludes in the video.
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