Liz Truss has no right to moan about the Olympics opening ceremony

Telegraph

4 days ago

For a certain type of leftie, the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony holds a special place in their hearts. It was the high point of Twee Britain, a prelapsarian vision of a nicer, gentler, more progressive country before the horrors of Brexit. The Queen and James Bond. Voldemort (before JK Rowling became She Who Must Not Be Named) and Mary Poppins. Rowan Atkinson, the NHS, and Paul McCartney – wasn't it all so lovely? If only Britain could be that brilliant again. Danny Boyle, where are you now?
It is this fixation with that one event that Liz Truss attacked on Ben Shapiro's podcast. The opening ceremony, the former Prime Minister argues, did not represent 'the views of the average Briton'. Instead, they were those of an 'elite that hates Britain': based in London, disconnected from our small towns and rural communities, and far more enthusiastic about waxing lyrically about multiculturalism and promoting the rights of illegal immigrants than they are conscious of the state of their country.
Perhaps Truss is right. Perhaps there are legions of readers nodding their heads vigorously in agreement with her every word. But unfortunately for her, this august newspaper has discovered that her disgust at the highpoint of British leftism has not always been so fulsome. Indeed, there was a time in which she counted herself as quite a fan of Danny Boyle's magnum opus. Back in 2019, she called for a revival of 'the Olympics 2012 spirit' – 'a modern, patriotic, enterprising vision of Britain'.
Why the change of tune? Could it be that Truss is – perish the thought – is something of a grifter? Parachuted in by David Cameron's A-List, promoted by successive Tory leaders far beyond the level of her incompetence, roundly rejected by both the financial markets and her own MPs, and voted out last summer, Truss has little better to do but launder her reputation by being performatively right-wing for the growing number of interchangeable shock-jocks springing up on either side of the Atlantic.
If you wanted an example of someone cut off from the rest of the country, Truss could be your poster girl. Living in central London, Truss lost her Norfolk seat partially because she never bothered to visit it. When it comes to representing the 'average Briton', Truss has rather poor form – not only because she left office plumbing unprecedented depths of prime ministerial popularity, but also because she was planning to massively increase immigration to plug her mini-Budget blackhole.
Indeed, if you gave the average Briton a choice between rewatching the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony and lowlights of Truss's 49 days in office, I can imagine what they'd choose. Yes, I find the leftie fetishisation of those few hours in the summer of 2012 as tedious as the next Tory. But 27 million average Britons watched it without turning off in disgust. That's about 27 million more than ever voted for Liz Truss – or have the faintest bit of interest in what she has to say.