‘U shud run babe’: Joe Lycett jokingly encourages Liz Truss to enter Tory leadership race next week
Joe Lycett has joked that Liz Truss should run in next week’s leadership election, after she stood down as prime minister following just six weeks in office.
In a speech outside Downing Street on Thursday 20 October, Truss announced she was resigning, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history.
The politician’s resignation came after 15 Tory MPs publicly called for her to step down, following a chaotic six weeks that included a disastrous mini-budget, the firing of former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and the resignation of former home secretary Suella Braverman.
In her speech, Truss announced that there would be a leadership election in the next week.
Reacting to the news on Twitter, Lycett posted: “@trussliz OMG just heard there’s a leadership election nxt week????? u shud run babe youd be perfect!!!”
Read reactions from other comedians and stars here.
Lycett has been making headlines in recent weeks for his frequent ridiculing of Truss.
The comedian appeared on the first episode of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on 4 September alongside Labour’s Emily Thornberry and former No 10 staffer Cleo Watson.
After watching Kuenssberg interview then-prime ministerial candidate Truss live in the studio, Lycett could be heard shouting off-screen: “You smashed it, Liz!”
The comedian then sarcastically told Kuenssberg that he is “extremely right-wing”.
He also said of Truss: “I know there’s been criticism in the The Mail on Sunday today about leftie liberal wokie comedians on the BBC. I’m actually very right-wing and I love it. I thought she gave great clear answers. I know exactly what she’s up to.”
During the interview, Kuenssberg asked Lycett to be “serious”, with the comic replying: “I’m not being sarcastic.”
After Kuenssberg showed a news report that argued that Truss is a “stronger” candidate “than you think”, Lycett said: “I think the haters will say we’ve had 12 years of the Tories, and that we’re sort of at the dregs of what they’ve got available, and that Liz Truss is sort of like the backwash of the available MPs.
“I wouldn’t say that, because I’m incredibly right-wing, but some people might say that.”
Birmingham-born Lycett has made a name for himself with his jokes about the Tories.
In January, he noticed that his joke version of Sue Gray’s findings on the Downing Street parties, which occurred during Covid-19 lockdown, had been read out as a “serious report” in government.
Read more about Lycett’s biggest political pranks here.
Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt and Ben Wallace have all been touted as possible successors to Truss.
