Liz Truss needs to learn to take a joke

It is hard to know what Liz Truss hoped to achieve by storming off stage during an event in Suffolk promoting her new memoir. The former PM did so after campaigners unfurled a banner emblazoned with the phrase: ‘I crashed the economy’ below a picture of a lettuce. All that Truss, who lasted just 49 days in office, succeeded in doing was to draw even more attention to the prank – the clip has amassed over six million views on social media. In the process she also managed to confirm what many have long suspected, which is that she really can’t take a joke, however lame. 

Truss was sitting comfortably on stage, discussing the US presidential election, expressing her support for Donald Trump before she was pranked. ‘I support Trump and I want him to win,’ she said to applause from the audience. She added: ‘I think it was Bill Clinton’s adviser who said: “It’s the economy stupid”.