London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Aug 28, 2025

Liz Truss wanted government turned up to 11, says former aide

Liz Truss wanted government turned up to 11, says former aide

Liz Truss took a "Spinal Tap approach" to government, with the volume turned up to 11, her former chief speechwriter has told.

Asa Bennett said Ms Truss demanded "fast action" to put "rocket boosters" on the British economy.

It was a "bitter regret" that it "didn't come off like that", he added.

Ms Truss's government lasted just seven weeks after its mini-budget spooked financial markets, prompting Tory MPs to revolt and forcing her resignation.

Spinal Tap are a spoof heavy metal group created by a team of comedians and musicians, who famously had amplifiers that were "one louder" than 10.

Mr Bennett, who had previously worked for Ms Truss when she headed the Department for International and the Foreign Office, was interviewed by the BBC's Nick Robinson for a Radio 4 documentary, Liz Truss's Big Gamble.


'Trusted her instincts'


Asked whether she regretted her approach in Downing Street, Mr Bennett said: "I think Liz felt that she's gambled before in her life and then she could gamble again on this.

"And yes, the stakes would be high, but the pay-off was worth it in the sense of taking that fast action.

"And at the same time Liz was someone who knew what she thought, known it for years, and so finally had the biggest chance yet to make her programme a reality.

"Of course, it will be no doubt a bitter regret for us all and her most of all that it didn't come off like that."

He said if Ms Truss had been made aware of the risks, she was generally someone who would have trusted her instincts.

"And so when she hears these things, she's someone who feels that she can have the courage of her convictions.

She's heard all the views. She was at the Treasury [as chief secretary] in the past, and she would be clear in her mind how to do things better."

Asa Bennett says Ms Truss wanted to 'unleash Britain's potential'


Mr Bennett said the then-prime minister regarded the Treasury's approach to economic policy as "this sort of tired, stale, status quo sort of thinking".

"And that is why she felt it really was time to take the hard decisions and root it out by trying to break with the sort of consensus, the cosy consensus that meant that Britain had been flagging along with international competitiveness," he added.


'Take things up a notch'


On the decision to sack the Treasury's top civil servant, Sir Tom Scholar, Mr Bennett suggested Ms Truss saw him as a symbol of the "senior Treasury civil servants who have presided in her mind over persistently low growth, chronically and persistently low productivity".

The Treasury orthodoxy "was something that just had to change because it was not able to unleash Britain's potential in her view", he said.

Spinal Tap perform in San Francisco in 1984


He said Ms Truss had spent years sitting around the cabinet table and felt she knew what the solutions were to the country's economic problems. "She also knew that this was the moment to put rocket boosters on the economy and get growth going."

She was, he said, "someone who would always try and take things up a notch. I think she always liked to be the one that was ready to push the envelope and would only back down if there was good reason".


'Human hand grenade'


"I think Liz was someone who would take this sort of Spinal Tap approach, turn it up to 11, and only if necessary, turn it down again," he added.

Boris Johnson's former top aide Dominic Cummings dubbed Ms Truss the "human hand grenade".

Mr Bennett said Ms Truss came to regard the nickname as "a compliment, not an insult".

"She's been dismissed and mocked by people in Westminster and the media over the years... and so she's found then that she could laugh these things off.

"She can embrace the jokes, and that's a part of her personality. Then she could see that she was bullet-proof as a result."

Six days before Ms Truss announced she would be resigning as prime minister, she sacked her long-time political ally and friend, Kwasi Kwarteng, as chancellor.

Mr Bennett said that was very hard for her. "Liz and Kwasi are very, very close friends, longstanding friends. They lived in the same area of London. They'd known each other for a while.

"They had written books together. They knew that they both thought the same way about what needed to be done.

"And so that's why it was such a hard decision, no doubt, for her to have to decide that he had to go at least to try and save her premiership."

Most of the mini-budget's tax-cutting measures were then ditched.

In her farewell speech outside No 10, Ms Truss defended her low-tax vision, saying: "We simply can not afford to be a low-growth country where the government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth."

But in an earlier interview, she said she took responsibility for going "too far, too fast" with the tax cuts in the mini-budget.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
×