Liz Truss has said she would “maybe” stand again for Parliament, after losing her seat at the last general election.
But at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham this week, even those who still defend her record told The i Paper there was no way back for her.
Four years ago, members gathered in the same conference venue for her one and only party conference as prime minister.
Which weight-loss drug ads are being banned
Two online pharmacies have been sanctioned by the advertising watchdog after they for oral weight-loss medicines.
Which pharmacies are being sanctioned?
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) ruled that and wrongly used ads on social media and on their own websites to promote GLP-1 anti-obesity treatments.
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What you need to know
- Medicines cannot be advertised in the UK until licensed for use by regulators. Even once authorised, prescription-only drugs cannot be advertised to the public.
- The ASA found that Simple Online Pharmacy broke these rules by inviting people to join a waiting list for GLP-1 slimming pills on 1 June. The first such medicine was not authorised in the UK until 11 June.
- Pharmacy Online also had its adverts banned after it promoted the oral version of Wegovy after it had been licensed as prescription-only. The ads included a website pop-up inviting people to “pre-order” the medication.
The licensing of GLP-1 pills, seen as easier to administer than weight-loss jabs, has boosted the £210m market for anti-obesity drugs obtained with private prescriptions.
However, it has also provided regulators with a headache as they seek to ensure use only occurs under proper medical supervision.
‘Treatments could put people at risk’
“These are powerful medicines, so it’s important that ads don’t encourage people to seek treatment in ways that could put them at risk”
Catherine Drewett, investigations manager at the ASA
Daniel Craig’s Bond suit from Skyfall up for auction
A suit worn by Daniel Craig in the 2012 film will go up for auction this month.
Bond suite for sale
A worn by Daniel Craig while playing James Bond in the 2012 film is among the lots being offered in a from the 007 franchise.
A collection of 400 items spanning every Bond film since 1962’s is being sold via an online auction open until 27 October. It also includes a complete set of 14 first edition 007 books written by Ian Fleming.
What you need to know
- The grey suit, complete with branded shirt and a tie and cufflinks, was worn by Craig in the opening sequence of as Bond chases a villain across Istanbul, Turkey.
- The outfit, part of Craig’s wardrobe for his fourth of five outings as Bond, has a pre-sale estimate of between £20,000 and £40,000.
- Also offered is a navy dress with a plunging neckline worn by Hollywood star Ana de Armas as secret agent Paloma in the most recent Bond film, .
The Bond memorabilia up for sale
A cinema poster for , the first Bond Film and starring Sean Connery, has an estimate pre-sale price of £8k to £16k.
A clapper board used for miniature special effects sequences in is offered with a pre-sale price tag of £4k to £8k.
With an estimate of £20k to £40k, another star lot is 14 first-edition, first impression 007 books written by Ian Fleming.
What you need to know about new air travel rules
As the October half-term looms, British holidaymakers taking to the skies may notice a number of changes as they head to Europe.
Here’s what you need to know…
Air travel changes
Face as passport
E-gates at UK airports will soon work without a passport for British nationals by using facial recognition to match travellers with their passport image held on Home Office systems.
Free personal item
Since July, passengers can take a small bag (40x30x15cm) on board for free. EU airlines must also include at least a carry-on trolley bag in the starting price for flights.
The EU’s EES is now in full effect at most Schengen area airports, causing delays for passengers who will now need to register biometric data at gates.
Anyone trying to avoid the queues should try to secure a seat towards the front of the plane to be able to dash to passport control before queues form.
Pro-Palestine march to go ahead on 7 October anniversary
A pro-Palestine march on the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack has been given the go-ahead by police, under strict conditions.
The protest
Who is protesting?
A group of students called the University of London Coalition are expected to march in the capital on Wednesday.
Why they are marching
Organisers urged people to “take to the street and demand an end to the Palestinian genocide”.
Why is it controversial?
It has drawn criticism for being held on the anniversary of Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel.
Police restrictions
- The group is required to form at Lincoln’s Inn Fields by 12.30pm, take a prescribed route to Russell Square, and finish the rally by 2pm.
- Demonstrators must not wear a face covering which conceals their identity, with the Met Police saying anyone who breaches these conditions can be arrested.
- The march was originally set to leave from King’s College London, but restrictions require them to be further from the university.
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Education Secretary Lucy Powell called on the student march organisers “to for others by moving it” to another date. She added that universities should take “a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic abuse, backed by robust disciplinary policies”.
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‘High bar for ban not met’
We hear the calls for this event to be banned. The police cannot ban protests and can only ask the Home Secretary to do so if the risk of serious disorder is so high that it can’t be managed by conditions. That high bar is not met here.
met police Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman, who leads Met Operations including public order policing
What we know as Ofcom opens first investigation into Meta
Ofcom has launched its first investigation into Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta under the Online Safety Act.
Here’s everything we know.
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Why is Ofcom investigating Meta?
Online safety regulator Ofcom is investigating Meta regarding its disappearing content feature.
- Ofcom said it was looking into whether the tech giant adequately assessed the risks of Instagram Instants before launching it in May.
- The feature allows users to take and share photos that disappear after being viewed. It cannot be seen after 24 hours.
- Meta said it had “conducted a risk analysis” and briefed Ofcom “on a number of occasions” before launch.
What risks does the feature carry?
Ofcom said on Tuesday it had launched a formal investigation to establish “whether Meta failed to comply with its duties under the Act by not carrying out a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment and children’s risk assessment before the launch of Instants”.
Meta’s response
Meta takes its regulatory obligations under the Online Safety Act seriously
A Meta spokesperson insisted Instants has in-built protections including “blocking screenshots, reshares and forwarding, no public feed, and Teen Account protections on automatically”.
Mark Zuckerberg’s toxic empire is starting to crack
Meta’s decision to pay more than $17bn (£12bn) to settle a landmark US lawsuit is being seen as a reckoning for a company that has got away with preying on children and ransacking its users’ data for decades.
Paramount and Warner Bros mega deal creates Skydance
Paramount has completed its $110bn (£83bn) takeover of Warner Bros Discovery to create a new Hollywood giant.
Details on the deal
Big money merger
The mega deal will bring both major film studio brands under the name Skydance.
Which channels are involved?
It also brings together streaming services and TV networks including CBS and HBO Max.
UK channels
In the UK, meanwhile, Skydance will control assets such as Channel 5 and TNT Sports.
Issues with regulators
Paramount, which was bought by Skydance last year, initially launched a hostile approach before gaining the approval of the Warner Bros board.
Britain’s regulators greenlit the deal in August, with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport promising not to intervene after several “legally binding commitments” from Paramount over its footprint in the UK.
The deal had to gain approval from regulators across the world, while also settling a lawsuit lodged by Democratic attorney generals in 12 states seeking to block the merger.
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A fortnight later, she resigned, becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in modern British history after just 44 days in office.
Key to her downfall was the mini-Budget of September 2022, in which her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced £45bn of unfunded tax cuts.
The event triggered market turmoil, with the pound falling to a record low against the dollar and mortgage lenders pulling hundreds of deals. The Bank of England was eventually forced to buy up to £65bn of government bonds to calm the crisis.
Rishi Sunak succeeded her as prime minister, but led the party to its worst general election defeat in July 2024.
Yet, despite that record, many in the party still defend her, with one former Tory adviser saying he stood by “everything we said when we elected her”.
“She had the right ideas done in the wrong way,” he said.
‘The problem was f**king Tory MPs’
One shadow cabinet minister, who backed Rishi Sunak against Truss in the 2022 leadership contest, said she was not as bad as the public paints her.
Recalling the mini-Budget, they said: “Look, I stood up at the time and defended it. I didn’t back her, but I got behind her, like we all did.”
The shadow minister added that it was “a terrible strategy, but I don’t think all her ideas were wrong”.
“The problem was f**king Tory MPs,” the former adviser said. “You have to bring people along with you, and she didn’t sell what she was doing.”
That view was echoed by party members on the conference floor.
One member said Truss perhaps lacked “the necessary gravitas and charisma for the top job”, but that “a lot of her policies were correct, but possibly poorly delivered and too quickly”.
Another attendee pointed to Truss’s growth agenda. “Her principles about going for growth were correct,” they said, but she failed to “bring the public and the civil servants and the Treasury along with those principles”.
A third credited her with a message the party is now “talking about time and time again” – the need to grow the economy. “I think the phrase was grow the pie, wasn’t it? And she was right,” they said.
But not every member was so forgiving. One, a self-described “strong Tory”, said Truss’s legacy was being the shortest-serving prime minister, “and understandably so”.
“She nearly tanked the economy and the Bank of England had to step in,” they said. “There really isn’t a legacy.”
Another member was blunter still: “I am quite frankly not interested in the legacy [of Liz Truss]. I’m interested in the legacy that [Kemi Badenoch] is setting.”
But, whatever their view of her record, few of those The i Paper spoke to saw any future for Truss in the party.
Truss has not ruled out a return to the Commons. Asked by former Tory MP Steve Baker on his podcast whether she would stand again, she said “maybe”, refusing to say for which party. “I’m just not ruling it out, all right?” she said.
The i Paper understands that Truss has not applied to be on the Conservative Party’s candidates list.
However, she may not have the chance. A Conservative Party spokesman told that she could not stand for the Tories again.
In a bid to revive the party, its leader Kemi Badenoch has tightened rules about who can stand, with many former ministers struggling to get past the process.
She has blocked senior figures including Sir Grant Shapps from standing, and requires all candidates to back her policies on leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and scrapping the 2050 net-zero target.
The “strong Tory” member, who is going through the party’s parliamentary assessment process, said: “I’ve found they’re much more strict. They want better quality candidates.”
However, even if she were given permission to stand for the Conservatives, those who defend her are unlikely to accept her again.
The shadow cabinet minister said: “I feel for her, I really do, but there is no way she can be welcomed back into the party. Half our woes go back to that mini-Budget.”
They added: “Kemi’s building a new party and there’s no place for her in it. I liked Liz, and she didn’t use to be like this, but she’s too far gone now and there is no route back for her.”
‘Looking for somewhere to be loved’
Since leaving Parliament, Truss has carved out a new career in right-wing media. Last December, she launched “The Liz Truss Show”, a weekly online programme co-produced with US conservative outlet Just the News, billing it as the “home of the counter-revolution”.
She has also been unapologetic about her legacy, claiming in a statement launching the show that the “Deep State tried to destroy me” and that she had been “blamed for a market crash that was not my fault”.
The former Tory advisor said rhetoric like that showed she had now gone “so far off the reservation” that a return was unlikely.
“Everyone blames her for being the worst prime minister in history, so she’s just gone and taken the American money,” he said. “I think she’s just looking for somewhere to be loved.”
One Tory member put it more bluntly, comparing the question to a marriage ending. “Never ever go back,” they said. “You only look forward in life, and that’s exactly what we should do.”
Despite all the criticism she faces, many in the party seem to wish her well in whatever she does next.
Festus Akinbusoye, who is running to be the Conservative candidate for mayor of London, told The i Paper: “I think people should know when the time comes to move on and go and do other fun things in life.”
The Conservative Party was contacted for comment.