Liz Truss launched an astonishing attack against British workers, saying they needed “more graft’”and suggesting they lacked the “skill and application” of foreign rivals.
A secret audio recording of Truss in conversation when she was Chief Secretary to the Treasury was leaked last night as the favourite for the Tory leadership prepared to take the stage in Perth for the Scottish hustings.
According to the tape obtained by the Guardian newspaper, Truss attacked the attitude of British workers.
In the recording, Truss suggested that there seemed to be little willingness to shift the working culture to make the UK more prosperous.
She said: “It’s a fundamental issue of British working culture and essentially if we’re going to be a richer country and a more prosperous country that needs to change, but I don’t think people are that keen to change that.”
Truss also compared Londoners to the rest of the country, noting that the difference was “partly a mindset or attitude thing.”
The Foreign Secretary, who has put patriotism at the centre of her campaign to be party leader, added: “I think there’s a slight there’s a slight thing in Britain about wanting the easy answers and I think that’s my reflection on the election and what’s gone before it .
"In the referendum. It’s like we’ve said it’s all Europe that’s causing my problems. Actually. What needs to happen is more .... more graft. But it’s not popular message.”
