Liz Truss criticises ‘multicultural' Olympic ceremony 12 years after praising it
The former prime minister suggested that 'the views expressed' at the event were not those shared by people outside of London but of 'an elite that hates Britain', even though she praised the ceremony in 2013.
Speaking to Ben Shapiro, a Right-wing US commentator, Ms Truss claimed that the 'elite are trying to suppress' the voices of those in small towns and rural communities.
Shapiro, who hosts the Ben Shapiro Show, asked the former Tory leader about the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, which took place in the capital.
Former UK PM Liz Truss on what Britain must learn from Trump pic.twitter.com/ztebsbHZgE
— The Ben Shapiro Show (@BenShapiroShow) August 11, 2025
He asked: 'Can there be a restoration of a true pride in what Great Britain was and should be in the middle of this bizarre sort of melange of multiculturalism that has taken over London?'
Ms Truss replied: 'The views expressed in the Olympic ceremony are not the views of the average Briton.
'The problem is we have an elite that hates Britain, and they have done for some time, that is the history of people like Jeremy Corbyn [and] Keir Starmer.
'They want to help the human rights of anybody who doesn't live in Britain, but they're very reticent about actually defending our own interests.
'We need to galvanise the people who are patriots in our country, but they have been neglected. They generally don't live in London. They live in small towns, they live in rural areas. They don't have much of a voice. And what is happening is the elite are trying to suppress those voices.'
But Ms Truss had previously praised the 2012 opening ceremony, which took place shortly before she became an education minister under Lord Cameron.
In a speech in 2013, she said: 'Last summer's Olympics opening ceremony seamlessly combined Isambard Kingdom Brunel and William Shakespeare, Tim Berners-Lee and Mary Poppins.'
In 2019, she told The Sunday Telegraph: 'I think we need to revive what I call the Olympics 2012 spirit [with] a modern, patriotic, enterprising vision of Britain and we need to use Brexit to achieve that.'
The opening ceremony of London 2012 was directed by Danny Boyle and attracted some 900 million viewers.
It featured a cameo appearance of Queen Elizabeth II alongside Daniel Craig in his role as James Bond.
The pair apparently jumped out of a helicopter together into the Olympic stadium, where the late monarch was wearing the same outfit as she had been when she met Bond in Buckingham Palace.
The show also featured references to the novel Peter Pan, the Chariots of Fire film, and several hymns and folk songs such as Jerusalem and Danny Boy.
In a segment designed to celebrate the NHS, performers danced in traditional nurse uniforms and white doctors' coats.
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