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Liz Truss' resurgence shows the 'depressing level of politics we've arrived at', says comedian Ben Elton
17 April 2024, 19:53
Andrew Marr is joined by Ben Elton
Liz Truss' resurgence has shown the "depressing level of politics we have arrived at", comedian and actor Ben Elton has said.
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Speaking on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, Mr Elton suggested that Ms Truss' had become "driven by anger and ego", saying it is "beyond depressing to a point of truly sad".
He compared the current political climate to that of a medieval world "where anyone can say anything".
“I think it’s a very depressing example of the level of public debate, level of politics that we’ve arrived at," Mr Elton said.
"I find it beyond depressing to a point of truly sad, we say oh we live in a post-truth age - you mean we’re living in the dark ages?
"You mean we’ve returned to a medieval world where anyone can say anything, any prejudice, any myth, any conspiracy, any lie can be weaponised by those in power and there’s no way you can contradict it? If they say it’s true, it is true."
Read more: Liz Truss turns on Rishi Sunak's flagship smoking ban as Tories revolt ahead of key vote
Ben Elton reacts to the 'resurgence' of Liz Truss
He continued: "We have arrived very quickly at a point where all the advances of the Enlightenment, when the primacy of evidence, the absolute necessity for any position to be backed up by argument, factual base, which gave us all the benefits of the Enlightenment in terms of philosophy, science etc etc. have been thrown out.
"And obviously Truss, idiotic person that she is, driven out.
"I mean, I thought slightly better of her but she clearly seems to be as driven by anger and ego as the worst of them.
"She seeks power for power’s sake, she clearly has no idea what she’s talking about and yet can give the impression of doing so because we live in a world where yesterday’s news might as well be medieval news because the fact she can now say she didn't tank the economy."
It comes after Ms Truss told LBC that she believe Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey should resign over his reaction to her government's catastrophic 2022 mini-budget.
Ms Truss resigned as Prime Minister after just six weeks in the job after her government's mini-budget crashed the pound and sent household costs soaring.
She said the reaction to her mini-budget represented “groupthink rather than a conspiracy”.
“They believe in the current economic model Britain has, they believe in the economic consensus. They essentially believe, in my view, in managing decline,” Ms Truss said.
She called for a “proper investigation into what happened in September 2022 and the actions the Bank took”.
