Hardliners think now is the time to push for change
Nigel Farage will attend the launch of Liz Truss’s new “Popular Conservatism” movement this week, as the former prime minister continues her attempts at a political comeback.
The former Ukip leader is among several hundred guests expected at the event in central London on Tuesday.
The movement, dubbed “PopCons”, is the latest initiative launched by Truss since she was forced from office in October 2022 and is seen as a vehicle for right-wing Tory MPs. The group is expected to use it as a platform to lobby for more hardline policies, including on immigration and tax cuts, in the Conservatives’ next election manifesto.
Truss will be a headline speaker alongside her political ally Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, with Lee Anderson, the former Tory deputy chairman, also due to speak.
Mark Littlewood, who was credited as the architect of many of Truss’s libertarian economic policies in No 10 and was unsuccessfully nominated by her for a peerage, will be director of the movement. He is the outgoing head of the libertarian think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs. David Canzini, a former senior aide to both Truss and Boris Johnson, has been assisting with the launch.
Farage’s attendance will anger party moderates, who already suspect that Truss is using the project to stage her revival. It comes after it emerged that a small cabal of Conservative MPs and special advisers were attempting to oust Rishi Sunak as prime minister.
One source claimed the PopCons appeared to be an attempt to build up a database of Tory supporters, with its new website inviting people to register their details for future updates. “People think she is trying to build up another leadership campaign, which is completely insane,” the source added. Sources close to Truss dismissed the claims as “baseless” and insisted that Farage had been invited in his capacity as a presenter on GB News.
