Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss said she did not have time to listen to President Biden’s comments about his budget being a “mistake” in October because she was too busy dealing with energy and security issues, according to reports.
Biden said on October 15, 2022, that Truss’ push to cut taxes for his country’s top earners was a “mistake.”
Truss was forced to scrap substantial parts of her tax plan that week amid market turmoil and waning public confidence.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss addresses the media at Downing Street in London, Thursday, October 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
While eating ice cream with reporters in Oregon, Biden broke his silence.
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“I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a mistake,” he said. “I think the idea of cutting taxes on the super-rich at a time when I didn’t agree with the policy anyway, but it’s up to Britain to make that judgment, not me.”
The Daily Express in the UK reported that Truss took part in her first television interview with Spectator TV’s Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson since resigning as prime minister, and was asked where she was when she heard about Biden’s criticism.
President Biden speaks at the White House. (FoxNews)
“It was quite a busy time, Katy, so I can’t remember exactly what I was doing,” Truss said. “But we had been through the very difficult death of the Majesty of her the Queen of her and the funeral
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“In fact, I was visiting and meeting with President Biden at the UN,” he added. “So we were dealing with the power issues, but also dealing with very serious security issues, the Russian saber rattling, so I didn’t really have time to call President Biden or worry about his comments because we needed to comply with what was a very difficult situation.”
Truss has also reportedly told TV show hosts that the UK needs to do things differently to correct its poor economic growth over the past 10 years. He also warned that the UK was falling behind other countries, adding: “There is no question there is a problem.”
Truss initially lobbied to remove the UK’s top tax bracket, effectively cutting taxes for citizens earning more than $168,000 per year. While he scrapped that plan in early October, it did little to stabilize markets.
Ultimately, he fired his Treasury chief and longtime friend, Kwasi Kwarteng, and also backed down on a promise to cancel a tax hike on corporations.
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The value of the pound sterling plunged to near parity with the US dollar when Kwarteng first announced Truss’s tax cut plan in late September. Truss’s walk-backs managed to increase the value of the pound from $1.03 to $1.12.
Anders Hagstrom contributed reporting to this story.
