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Greg Evans
Oct 02, 2022
'How many people voted for your plan?', Laura Kuennsberg asks Liz Truss
BBC
Prime minister Liz Truss was left briefly speechless during her interview with Laura Kuennsberg on the BBC on Sunday morning when the journalist asked her "how many people voted for your plan?"
Truss has been heavily criticised and facing a growing division within the Tory party over her and Kwasi Kwarteng's controversial mini-budget announcement last week, which sent the value of the pound tumbling and caused widespread turmoil in the UK economy.
Kuennsberg was speaking to the prime minister in Birmingham ahead of the Tory Party conference which starts on Sunday and will see Truss give her first major speech in the role on Wednesday.
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However, she'll be hoping that words come a bit easier to her in a few days' time than what she managed to muster live on the BBC, as at one point she was struggling to comprehend just what Kuennsberg was asking her.
Towards the end of the interview, Kuennsberg asked Truss: "How many people voted for your plan?"
A baffled Truss appeared to be briefly stunned after a few moments of pure silence leaned forward and asked "What do you mean by that?" Kuennsberg explained: "You set out a significant change in direction from the Conservative government that you've been a part of for many, many years. How many people voted for you to do that?"
Truss said: "What people voted for in 2019 when they voted Conservative, sometimes for the first time in many years, is they voted for a different future. They voted for investment into their towns and cities, they voted for higher wages, they voted for economic growth.
“That is what our plan will deliver. I’m confident it will deliver, I’m absolutely confident that what we are doing on speeding up road projects, unleashing investment from the City, and reducing taxes will deliver that.
“I’m not saying it’s not going to be difficult. We do face a very turbulent and stormy time but it will deliver, it will deliver on the promises we made. And in the circumstances, I’m very clear that we had to act quickly to get this plan going.”
Truss's awkward silence and response after Kuennsberg's piercing question did not go unnoticed on social media.
\u201cIncredible moment.\u201d— Adam Bienkov (@Adam Bienkov) 1664699613
\u201cLaura Kuenssberg: 'How many people voted for your plan'\n\nLiz Truss: 'What do you mean by that?'\u201d— Jon Stone (@Jon Stone) 1664697943
\u201cLaura Kuenssberg: 'How many people voted for your plan'\n\nLiz Truss: \n\nhttps://t.co/V4koujc7xk\u201d— Sima from Mumbai (@Sima from Mumbai) 1664699224
\u201c"How many people voted for your plan?" asks Laura Kuenssberg of Liz Truss. And then we have the deadly Liz Truss silence. The answer is a mere 81,326 Tories. #LauraKuenssberg\u201d— Gerry Hassan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Gerry Hassan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1664698270
\u201cThe silence after #kuenssberg asks 'how many people have voted' for Truss's plan was deafening\u201d— Joel Taylor (@Joel Taylor) 1664698136
\u201cKuenssberg: "Who voted for your plans?"\nTruss: "What do you mean?"\u201d— Euan Purchase (@Euan Purchase) 1664699638
\u201c#Kuennsberg: How many people voted for your plan?\n\n#Truss:\u201d— Claire Mullaly (@Claire Mullaly) 1664700625
\u201cI love this bit:\n\nKuenssberg: \u201cHow many people voted for your plan?\u201d\n\nTruss: \u201cWhat do you mean by that?\u201d\u201d— It's the Electoral System! #FBPA #FBPR (@It's the Electoral System! #FBPA #FBPR) 1664699195
\u201c\ud835\udc76\ud835\udc89 \ud835\udc88\ud835\udc90\ud835\udc85, \ud835\udc95\ud835\udc89\ud835\udc86 \ud835\udc94\ud835\udc8a\ud835\udc8d\ud835\udc86\ud835\udc8f\ud835\udc84\ud835\udc86. \ud835\udc7a\ud835\udc82\ud835\udc9a \ud835\udc94\ud835\udc90\ud835\udc8e\ud835\udc86\ud835\udc95\ud835\udc89\ud835\udc8a\ud835\udc8f\ud835\udc88. \ud835\udc7a\ud835\udc82\ud835\udc9a \ud835\udc82\ud835\udc8f\ud835\udc9a\ud835\udc95\ud835\udc89\ud835\udc8a\ud835\udc8f\ud835\udc88 \ud835\udc9a\ud835\udc90\ud835\udc96 \ud835\udc87\ud835\udc96\ud835\udc84\ud835\udc8c\ud835\udc8a\ud835\udc8f\ud835\udc88 \ud835\udc8e\ud835\udc90\ud835\udc8f\ud835\udc8c.\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean by that?\u201d\n\n\ud835\udc75\ud835\udc76 \ud835\udc75\ud835\udc76\ud835\udc7b \ud835\udc7b\ud835\udc6f\ud835\udc68\ud835\udc7b\nhttps://t.co/B5dC66RE1y\u201d— James Felton (@James Felton) 1664702058
\u201cA pause that speaks 1,000 words.\u201d— David Lammy (@David Lammy) 1664702204
Just over 80,000 people voted for Truss to become the Tory party leader in September and subsequently the prime minister.
Due to the turmoil that she had created, Labour now lead the Tories but 33 points in the polls and a petition calling for an immediate general election has been signed by more than 300,000 people.
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