The Civil Service has been forced to update its background briefing notes attached to the King’s Speech after former Prime Minister Liz Truss complained it represented a “flagrant breach” and was a “political attack”.
Truss, who lost her South West Norfolk seat to Labour with a swing of 26.2 per cent, sent a letter to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case from the Republican National Convention in Millwaukee, Wisconsin.
She said: “It has been brought to my attention that the King’s Speech background briefing notes published today and available online contain repeated references personally to me and actions undertaken by my Government in the context of a political attack.”
She added: “I regard it as a flagrant breach of the Civil Service Code, since such personal and political attacks have no place in a document prepared by civil service – an error made all the more egregious when the attack is allowed to masquerade in the document among ‘key facts’.”
Truss concluded her brief letter by requesting Case investigate the references and remove “such political material” from the King’s Speech document.
The original 106-page briefing note, which has been updated, set out the aims for the 40 bills presented by King Charles on behalf of Sir Keir Starmer’s Government.
However, the description of the Budget Responsibility Bill said it was “intended to capture and prevent those announcements that could resemble the disastrous Liz Truss mini-budget”.
Key facts attached to the Budget Responsibility Bill’s description claimed the mini-budget would have cost £48billion a year by 2027/28, adding: “[It] damaged Britain’s credibility with international lenders.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The Cabinet Secretary has responded to Liz Truss and directed for these references to be removed from the document. They have now been corrected and updated.”
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TODAY’S POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS BELOW
Sunak could have delivered that King’s Speech, Rees-Mogg fumes
Rishi Sunak could have delivered the King’s Speech put forward by Sir Keir Starmer’s Government, ex-Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has fumed.
Rees-Mogg, who lost his North East Somerset & Hanham seat on July 4, said: “We’ve got a newly appointed Leader of the Opposition in the form of Rishi Sunak, who has virtuously declared that he will not oppose the Government’s agenda for the sake of opposing.
“But what is the point of the Opposition, particularly when the King’s Speech could have been delivered with a Conservative Government?
“There are only one or two things that weren’t in the Conservative manifesto.”