Berlin At least since her Christmas message a week ago, the world has known that Liz Truss feels called to higher things: With festive lights, an old globe and the Union Jack in her back, the British Foreign Minister wished her supporters a Merry Christmas. Usually only the Queen addresses the British people in this form at Christmas.
The 46-year-old conservative does not want to take the throne, but she has her eye firmly on 10 Downing Street. Especially since the local host and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is politically badly damaged after numerous crises and there is open speculation about his successor in Great Britain. The truss, popular with the Tories, is one of the favorites alongside Chancellor Rishi Sunak and wanted to inherit Theresa May, who was pushed out of office by the Brexit supporters of her party, two years ago. In addition, the Foreign Minister is already revered by her supporters as the new Margaret Thatcher.
Johnson initially sent his secret challenger on a “Mission Impossible”: Truss, who was appointed Foreign Minister only three months ago, is taking on the impossible task of the deadlocked negotiations from the recently resigned Brexit representative David Frost in addition to her Foreign Office with the European Union (EU) on the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol to a successful conclusion.
It is quite possible that the British Prime Minister hopes that Truss will fail as much as its numerous predecessors. Johnson would have one less rival. However, this calculation is not without risk: If the former trade minister succeeds in loosening the negotiation knot over Northern Ireland and thus concluding Brexit, this would not only increase the pressure on Johnson, but also increase Truss’s chances.
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When the new Brexit negotiator soon meets with EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, she will encounter a state of negotiations that her predecessor Frost has just classified as “highly problematic”: Great Britain considers Northern Ireland to remain in the EU internal market as agreed in the Brexit Treaty unenforceable without giving up its sovereignty over the Northern Irish province. Brussels, on the other hand, insists on the contract signed by Johnson, the associated customs border in the Irish Sea and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to resolve trade disputes in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland becomes the key to 10 Downing Street
Frost was unable to untie this knot even after a year and in the end gave up in frustration. This may also have contributed to the fact that, according to media reports, Johnson is apparently ready to accommodate the EU in the dispute over the ECJ. The prime minister has already incurred the ire of Brexit supporters in his own party.
After the resignation of Brexit Minister Frost, the Foreign Minister of Great Britain will take over his previous duties.
(Photo: dpa)
The fact that Truss should be the Brexiteers’ new hope is not without irony – the British Foreign Minister fought hard to keep her country in the EU before the referendum and warned of the economic consequences of leaving. After the Brexit vote, she changed her mind and has since positioned herself as a staunch advocate of the “Get Brexit Done” group.
Truss was born in Oxford, where he also studied politics, philosophy and economics. She is considered a supporter of radical economic liberalism and is therefore compared to Margaret Thatcher. It was certainly no coincidence that, like the former icon of the Tories, it was photographed in a British tank during a NATO maneuver in Estonia.
As Foreign Minister, Truss is the face of “Global Britain”, the slogan with which Johnson wants to make Great Britain a global player in world politics again after the loss of its “Empire”. How the Briton intends to do this, she recently outlined in a speech to the renowned think tank Chatham House.
The Iron Lady’s ideological legacy
Accordingly, the world is in an ideological struggle between freedom and authoritarian regimes like in Russia and China. An attitude with which she hopes to revive the “special relationship” with the USA. Truss advocates a “network of freedom”, which could include undemocratic allies as long as they abide by international rules.
In her speech, she cited the Comprehensive and Progressive Trade Agreement (CPTPA) of eleven Pacific states as an example, which she sees as a bulwark against China and which Britain should join. “Your vision is basically thatcheristic,” commented the magazine “The Economist” afterwards.
The coming rounds of negotiations with the EU on the Northern Ireland Protocol will show to what extent her ideological proximity to the “Iron Lady” will help Truss to jump over the Brexit shadow of her no less ideological party friends. For many Tories, Brussels seems like a refuge of tyranny like Moscow or Beijing. Truss now has the chance to emphasize the similarities with the EU again. If she succeeds in replacing Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, she would actually be a worthy heiress to Margaret Thatcher.
More: Brexit Minister David Frost resigns in protest against Johnson’s course – Foreign Minister takes over