BRITAIN GETS READY FOR LIZ MANIA!
People desperately want grounds for optimism and Truss’s growth agenda at least aims to do that. Moreover, the widespread and strangely intense contempt for Truss is a great asset for her politically, as anyone who understands the British can grasp.
As Gareth Roberts noted here, Truss’s woodenness is her strength. In the UK, we tend to form ironic attachments to public figures we feel are publicly awkward or even a bit crap. She isn’t polished or slick. She is awkward in a way that most people are.
She also inspires a particularly unpleasant form of clever-clever loathing that will make fair-minded people warm to her. She tends to make her enemies so angry they overreach and sound unhinged. It’s here perhaps that comparisons with Thatcher are apt.
The comedian Joe Lycett may have won lots of attention and some more fans for his mockery of Truss on television on Sunday. But most people will have seen his performance for what it was: a smug twerp in a stupid yellow shirt thinking he was better than everyone.
The attacks on Truss get much more vulgar from there. In contrast, one woman is already enjoying Liz Mania! to the fullest: Stop tweeting @liztruss your congratulatory messages. That’s not Britain’s new PM.
After Liz Truss was announced as the winner of her Conservative Party’s leadership vote on Monday — and officially appointed by Queen Elizabeth the following day — constituents, politicians and world leaders took to Twitter to share their reactions and messages to Britain’s newest prime minister.
Some of them tried to get her attention by including the handle @LizTruss. But rather than tagging the U.K. leader, who actually uses the handle @trussliz, they reached a woman named Liz Trussell. And, to the delight of many spectators, she’s having fun with it.
When one user erroneously tagged her in a tweet announcing Truss’ win, Trussell replied, “Gonna be busy.” On another announcing the vote tally, she commented, “Yay! Go me!!!”
Even Sweden’s prime minister wasn’t safe from the confusion. On Monday, her account mistakenly tagged Trussell in a congratulatory tweet (which has since been deleted and reposted with the right tag) emphasizing cooperation between the two countries.
“Looking forward to a visit soon!” Trussell responded. “Get the Meatballs ready.”
Heh, indeed.