Liz Truss made an unfortunate mistake during her first speech as the newly appointed foreign secretary on Sunday.
Speaking to a crowd at the Conservative conference, Truss promised she will be “banging the dumb” for Britain around the world – rather than saying “banging the drum”.
As many anti-Brexit campaigners believe the Conservatives are trying to deceive the public about the reality of UK life outside of Brexit in light of the disastrous new HGV driver shortages, it was a rather unlucky error.
Truss has quickly become the poster person of the Conservative Party recently, after successfully securing a series of Brexit trade deals around the world.
The Sun’s deputy political editor Kate Ferguson even jokingly called her “Queen Liz darling of the Tory conference” when Truss appeared on stage in Manchester.
But Truss is also known for her public slip-ups.
She once accidentally sat on fellow minister Sajid Javid’s lap in the Commons, has been ridiculed in the past for getting too excited about pork markets and according to one MP, has a habit of standing “much too close” to people.
Still, Truss used her speech to defend all of the mishaps that have occurred in British internationals relations recently.
Addressing the furore from France after the UK signed the Aukus deal, she said: “There have always been ups and downs with our relationship with the French. But they are a democracy.”
She also claimed she was not concerned about the UK’s relationship with the US at the moment – despite US President Joe Biden’s rejection of a trade deal with the UK any time soon.
Truss addressed the growing concerns around China, too, promising that she would trade with the country but it “needs to play by the rules”.
She announced her next overseas trip will be to India as part of her new mission to promote “global Britain” abroad.
Truss also dipped into the ongoing concerns around women’s safety after Sarah Everard’s death and admitted that “we have to change” that.
Truss is also the minister for women and equality, but has been accused of treating this job like a side hustle.
Her appointment as foreign secretary caused a stir among political pundits last months, as it meant ousting Dominic Raab, one of Boris Johnson’s more faithful followers, after he received backlash for his work on the Afghanistan crisis.
Raab was demoted to justice secretary although he was awarded the title of deputy prime minister too, while Truss was awarded for her work as the international trade secretary.
Despite being a Remainer in the EU referendum of 2016, Truss revealed in her speech that she would now vote Leave if she were to take part in the vote again – even though many believe the current crises in the UK are down to Brexit.
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry was also scathing about Truss’ appointment last month.
She told POLITICO: “I’m afraid Liz Truss’s appointment will be a return to the Boris Johnson days of someone who thinks they can just bluff their way through the job of foreign secretary without doing any actual hard work, or delivering any actual results.”
