Truss brings US-style CPAC to London, blames BoE for 2022 crash
Former prime minister Liz Truss has launched a British spin-off of the US conservative conference CPAC in London, seeking to galvanise the European right while continuing to blame the Bank of England for her disastrous 2022 mini-budget.
The first British edition of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) opened in London, spearheaded by former prime minister Liz Truss. The event brings together hard-right international figures, including speakers from the US, Romania and Australia, in an attempt to build a transatlantic populist movement. Tickets for the three-day gathering ranged from £100 to £10,000.
For European investors, the most notable element of Truss’s political comeback is her refusal to disavow the economic agenda that panicked markets. Her government’s mini-budget, which proposed £45bn in unfunded tax cuts, triggered severe volatility in UK gilt markets and has been disowned by her party. “The Bank of England were largely responsible for what happened in 2022. The Bank of England is the deep state,” Truss told attendees, defending her claim that her government was brought down by a covert establishment.
The conference underscores the growing alignment between populist politics and alternative finance. Sponsors of the London event include the John Birch Society, AI company Alpha Compute and several firms involved in Bitcoin, which is scheduled to be a major theme on Friday.
The agenda focused heavily on cultural grievances, with George Simion, a Romanian ultranationalist, referencing the “great replacement” conspiracy theory to push for “remigration”. US influencer Jack Posobiec told the crowd: “The British people must rise up and take back their country.” Former minister Suella Braverman also claimed that attempts to be anti-racist had “institutionalised anti-white racism”.
The gathering highlights the ongoing fragmentation of the British conservative movement. While Truss confirmed she remains a member of the Conservative party, the current leader, Kemi Badenoch, notably avoided the event after previously calling for a period of silence from her predecessor. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is scheduled to speak on Friday, illustrating Truss’s argument that the right needs a broader movement rather than a single party.
The fringe nature of some messaging was evident elsewhere. Matt Goodwin, a Reform activist who secured 28.7% of the vote in a recent byelection, used his speech to falsely claim the Green party used Muslim “clan networks” to rig the vote, a claim police have found no evidence to support.
