It made for awkward listening.
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss embarked on an “operation rolling Partridge” tour of local radio stations across Britain on Thursday morning (29 September).
During it, the Prime Minister insisted the UK Government’s tax-cutting measures are the “right plan” in the face of rising energy bills and to get the economy growing despite market turmoil sparked by the Chancellor’s mini-budget.
In her first public comments since the mini-budget market chaos, Truss defended Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s measures, insisting “urgent action” was needed, although she admitted the Government’s decisions have been “controversial”.
The Prime Minister told BBC Radio Leeds: “We had to take urgent action to get our economy growing, get Britain moving and also deal with inflation.”
It's OPERATION ROLLING PARTRIDGE!!! Liz Truss is going to hit BBC •local radio• stations this morning where a bunch of sleep-deprived non-expert presenters will throw her soft questions, while she dodges the heavy hitters. (h/t @politico ) pic.twitter.com/fTmlD6FPRC
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) September 29, 2022
But any hopes that she might be given an easy ride were quickly quashed after she crumbled under questioning from BBC Radio Lancashire’s Graham Liver.
Challenged on the government’s plans to resume fracking, Truss insisted that no projects would go ahead without local people giving their consent.