‘You were against the Queen!’ Liz Truss on the spot as BBC host confronts Republican past
Liz Truss quizzed on former anti-monarchy views by Robinson
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Foreign Secretary Liz Truss campaigned to end the monarchy as a student at Oxford University in 1994 when she became a Liberal Democrat. Ms Truss debated in favour of the abolishment of the Royal Family at one political conference in 1994, arguing that it was not fair for one family to be head of the state. BBC’s Political Thinking host Nick Robinson quizzed her on her previous opinions as he tested whether she fully changed her position.
Mr Robinson asked: “Not only were you on anti-nuclear campaigns and not only were you chanting Maggie out, out, you were a republican.
“You were against our Majesty the Queen.”
Ms Truss said: “I think it’s fair to say that when I was in my youth I was a professional controversialist and I liked exploring ideas and stirring things up.”
The BBC host said: “You said we believe in opportunity for all we do not believe in people who are born to rule.”
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She said: “As I say I was, I think I was in my teens at the time Nick when I made that statement.
“And I came from a left-wing background as I said my mother was in the campaign for nuclear disarmament.
“There are very few people at my school or who I met on a regular basis in fact, I could count them on one hand who you’d describe as right-wing.”
The Foreign Secretary continued: “I think over time I, first of all, began to understand the real importance of a free economy and the ability for people to come up with their own ideas innovation successful businesses and how important that was.
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“I was very worried as well about the moral equivalence a lot of people in the left-wing of politics put between the US and the USSR.
Ms Truss added: “So I thought at the time, this is a totally different way of life, it doesn’t represent the type of society I want to live in.
“And I began to understand more about why Britain is successful and part of our success is the constitutional monarchy that supports a free democracy.”
Ms Truss came from a socialist background as she herself revealed by giving insights on her upbringing in the past.
She shared details of a time her mother took her to a women-only Greenham Common camp in Berkshire where they sang socialist songs
The Foreign Secretary said she was made to sing songs against Margaret Thatcher, saying she “probably didn’t know what I was singing. I was seven at the time.”
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