Liz Truss wanted to stay 'as far away from foreign affairs as possible', Rory Stewart tells GB News

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
POOL
Aden-Jay Wood

By Aden-Jay Wood


Published: 04/03/2022

- 13:56

The ex-minister said Ms Truss was more interested in the education sector during his early time in politics

Ex-minister Rory Stewart says Foreign Secretary Liz Truss wanted to say as “far away as she possibly could” from foreign affairs during his early time in politics.

Ms Truss has held important talks in recent days with other foreign ministers involved with NATO, the G7 and EU as she calls for an even stronger response on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.


But Mr Stewart, who was once International Development Secretary, revealed to GB News that Ms Truss was much more interested in the education sector when he worked with her.

Speaking to Isabel Oakeshott, he said: “Liz Truss is bright and hard-working but it’s definitely true that when I began politics this was not her bag at all.

“I remember very, very clearly that she wanted to stay as far away from that stuff as she possibly could, her real interest in those days was education.

“But there’s no doubt she’s a bright, determined figure with firm views.”

When asked about whether the country’s military and foreign services are well-equipped for a war, Mr Stewart said: “Ben Wallace has done a good job, and he’s really coming into his own. But the truth is we have eviscerated our military and foreign service, not just over the last ten years, but over the last 30 years.

“So all the capacity we had militarily to deal with land war in Europe has been run down, tanks have been gotten rid of, things like bridging capacity have been abolished.

“Huge investments went into completely unnecessary aircraft characters, fantasies about the navy, and we totally took our eye off the ball in land warfare.

“Very sadly no Government seems to say we need a good Foreign Office, no one wants to increase their budgets, but the truth is the French spend more than twice as much as we do. We need diplomats who can speak other languages as well and have people on the ground.”

You may like