Liz Truss made a ferocious attack on what she termed the “anti-growth coalition” who are standing in the way of the Conservative Party’s agenda.
In her keynote conference speech, the prime minister railed against those she accused of trying to hold back her pro-growth agenda, including Labour, “militant” unions, “Brexit deniers”, Extinction Rebellion and “some of the people we had in the hall earlier” – a reference to the protesters who disrupted her address.
It’s clearly an attack line her senior team are rallying around, as Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi was among those to tweet out the slogan.
It’s worth printing the diatribe in full to get a better idea of who she thinks they are and what they do:
It seems to be a wide-ranging term that could anyone you would file under “the establishment” or anything vaguely “woke”.
Given the elasticity of the phrase, questions were asked about whether healthy food campaigner Jamie Oliver was also part of the rabble putting the brakes on Truss and her policies.
In her speech, the PM signalled the scrapping of the planned ban on junk food multi-buy deals as she declared she is “not interested in how many two-for-one offers you buy at the supermarket”.
Downing Street later did not rule out that the anti-growth coalition included the celebrity chef, who supports the ban.
The prime minister’s press secretary suggested there could be a scrapping of the planned ban of buy one, get one free offers, saying: “You’ll have to wait for announcements on that.”
When asked if Oliver is part of the anti-growth coalition, he responded: “I’m not going to name individuals.”
The speech has prompted people on Twitter to suggest a whole range of members of the coalition, including bats, David Attenborough and Conservative councils.
In her keynote conference speech, the prime minister railed against those she accused of trying to hold back her pro-growth agenda, including Labour, “militant” unions, “Brexit deniers”, Extinction Rebellion and “some of the people we had in the hall earlier” – a reference to the protesters who disrupted her address.
It’s clearly an attack line her senior team are rallying around, as Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi was among those to tweet out the slogan.
It’s worth printing the diatribe in full to get a better idea of who she thinks they are and what they do:
“I will not allow the anti-growth coalition to hold us back.
“Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP, the militant unions, the vested interests dressed up as think tanks, the talking heads, the Brexit deniers, Extinction Rebellion and some of the people we had in the hall earlier.
“The fact is they prefer protesting to doing. They prefer talking on Twitter to taking tough decisions.
“They taxi from north London townhouses to the BBC studio to dismiss anyone challenging the status quo.
“From broadcast to podcast, they peddle the same old answers.
“It’s always more taxes, more regulation and more meddling.
“Wrong, wrong, wrong.”
Ranting about an imaginary ‘anti growth coalition’ is just an attempt to obscure the hard reality that the biggest brake on UK growth is Brexit - and that’s on the Tories.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 5, 2022
I'm going to stick my neck out here and say no normal person will have any idea what "anti-growth coalition" means
— Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) October 5, 2022
It seems to be a wide-ranging term that could anyone you would file under “the establishment” or anything vaguely “woke”.
Given the elasticity of the phrase, questions were asked about whether healthy food campaigner Jamie Oliver was also part of the rabble putting the brakes on Truss and her policies.
In her speech, the PM signalled the scrapping of the planned ban on junk food multi-buy deals as she declared she is “not interested in how many two-for-one offers you buy at the supermarket”.
Downing Street later did not rule out that the anti-growth coalition included the celebrity chef, who supports the ban.
The prime minister’s press secretary suggested there could be a scrapping of the planned ban of buy one, get one free offers, saying: “You’ll have to wait for announcements on that.”
When asked if Oliver is part of the anti-growth coalition, he responded: “I’m not going to name individuals.”
The speech has prompted people on Twitter to suggest a whole range of members of the coalition, including bats, David Attenborough and Conservative councils.
Wait - someone ask No 10 if David Attenborough is in the anti-growth coalition.
— Sam Freedman (@Samfr) October 5, 2022
The anti growth coalition! https://t.co/EoI7HvFmpgpic.twitter.com/a5tCSxgjIi
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) October 5, 2022
How is this not The Onion?! https://t.co/MVofFmDcmq
— Sarah O'Connor (@sarahoconnor_) October 5, 2022
Sorry to have to report that bats are part of the anti-growth coalition. pic.twitter.com/l5I1Pf9beT
— Tom Hamilton (@thhamilton) October 5, 2022
That was the Anti-Growth Coalition with ‘Pork Markets’. #ConservativePartyconferencepic.twitter.com/HKH1W7hTOA
— Stephen Carroll (@StephenTweeted) October 5, 2022
Think I saw the Anti-Growth Coalition at Leeds Fest '08
— Liam Thorp (@LiamThorpECHO) October 5, 2022
Anti-growth coalition latest ... https://t.co/kMszEzVoYl
— Rachel Wearmouth (@REWearmouth) October 5, 2022
Is the CEO of Shell also part of Truss's 'anti-growth coaltion'? @DailyMirror#TrussSpeechhttps://t.co/gQMTue4eBW
— Fiona Parker (@FionaParker66) October 5, 2022
Let's see who the anti-growth coalition really i- pic.twitter.com/5KYAmmXfZF
— Sam Ashworth-Hayes (@SAshworthHayes) October 5, 2022