Failed in the UK like Liz Truss? Try Trump’s America!

Sophie Heawood, The Independent

In the 1990s, when I lived in Hong Kong, there was an acronym muttered by the British as a bit of a joke about our fellow immigrants arriving from home. The word was FILTH, and what it stood for was “Failed in London? Try Hong Kong”. Often used to describe a certain kind of entitled young fellow who’d pitch up in the Far East believing himself deserving of a career in banking — despite palpably not being up to the job.

Now I’ve just seen a new photo of Liz Truss and Donald Trump with their arms around one another at Mar-a-Lago in Florida — sorry, I should have issued a content warning in case you’re reading this with your dinner — and the FILTH vibe is so strong one can almost smell it. Though if this is to become a regular tradewind for our washed up British rightwingers, we’re going to need a bigger acronym. I mean we could try FILTA — Failed In London, Try America, but I believe the term might also be BEDLAM: British Economy Deadened? Let’s Arsekiss Maga!

Or perhaps she’s going for the SHAMELESS approach — Started Hyperinflation And Murdered Economies? Lovingly Embrace Significant Slimeballs! After all, our former PM has intentionally dressed in Republican red all the better to match her hero’s outfit — the American system uses red as the more right-wing colour while blue is for Democrats.

Funny that, because Truss in Downing Street was known for the endless blue suits she wore to convince people of her similarity to the late Tory PM Margaret Thatcher, who was conveniently her hero then.

Will she ever stop this mimicry? If Nigel Farage wins in the UK, is it only a matter of time before she adopts a tweed suit, waxed jacket, flat cap and tie? In September 2025, Truss claimed she was "obsessed with making Britain a great nation again”, presumably back to the time just before her tenure when you could actually get a mortgage. When asked if she would return as an MP, she replied: "I never rule anything out. Why would I do that?” Seemingly forgetting that members of the public have to vote for you for that to happen. Though to be fair to the woman, she does sometimes show great understanding that one can’t do it all alone.

Like that time when she wrote a 4,000 word essay explaining that it was in fact the "left-wing economic establishment” who had somehow contrived to fail her mini-budget when the — sorry, just checking my notes here — Tories were in power. Personally I hadn’t realised that the open market was known to be such a force of Marxism, but at least she has a healthy imagination. And she has also said "I don't want to be prime minister again,” which is — well, it’s big of her, at least.

But for now it’s all about good old Donald, the convicted felon whom she describes as being “right about everything,” so they’re both mugging for the camera like a pair of competition winners who’ve just qualified for a Blankety-Blank chequebook and pen. Which would be appropriate, as blankety-blank was the technical description for the state of the British economy after Liz Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng were allowed a go on it.

She does not seem to care that she hasn’t got what it takes — though of course, in Trump’s administration, that certainly doesn’t provide a barrier to reward. In fact, it’s strange that Trump is so opposed to equal opportunities employment policies, or schemes that create pathways for disadvantaged groups to thrive. In the UK, Liz Truss is at a huge disadvantage for having been such a poor prime minister that she was outlived by a lettuce. But in the States, they see no reason why that particular handicap should hold her back.