‘Anti-woke’ Truss accused of ‘feeding bigots’ with Tory leadership culture war

Liz Truss has been accused of seeking to appeal to a “bigoted” section of the Conservative Party’s base by positioning herself as “anti-woke”.

Equality campaigners denounced the leadership frontrunner’s “culture war games” and said they feared she would continue her “divisive rhetoric” if elected to No 10.

It comes as the foreign secretary provoked anger with an “inflammatory” attack on “woke” Civil Service culture that she claimed “strays into antisemitism”.

Her remarks, which were condemned by a union as “dog-whistle politics,” were the latest skirmish in a culture war which has permeated Ms Truss’s battle with Rishi Sunak to become PM.

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a prominent women’s rights activist, told The Independent: “She is feeding their base of politically illiterate bigoted idolators.

“For Liz Truss to be anti-woke, is to be anti-me, as I am proudly, unapologetically woke to racial and social injustice and systemic inequality.

“The PM of this country must be the PM of the woke and the anti-woke, the PM of the poor and the rich, the PM of male, female and non-binary, but we have got the PM of one side - the anti-woke.”

Dr Mos-Shogbamimu, whose 2021 book This is Why I Resist investigated the roots of systemic racism, said it would be positive to have a female PM but that having women better represented in politics was not enough.

“What does Liz Truss represent?” the author asked. “Who does she represent? I do not see her as representing substance or equality for women from diverse backgrounds. She will continue divisive rhetoric that does not address the ongoing systemic injustice and inequality in our country.”

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She added: ”She should not just be speaking to the Conservative Party but to the wider electorate. She is continuing Boris Johnson’s legacy. She is more of the same.

“She refuses to admonish Johnson publicly for the poor choices he made and for his incompetence as PM. The last 12 years under the Conservative Party have been horrendous. This is the party that gave us austerity and Brexit.”

Ms Truss, who is also women and equalities minister, has previously described herself as “Destiny’s Child feminist”.

Dr Mos-Shogbamimu said the foreign secretary did not represent her as a black woman and clearly had a “very different idea of what a feminist is and does”.

In a controversial speech in December 2020, Ms Truss announced plans to steer the UK’s equalities policy away from “fashionable” issues on race, sexuality and gender and derided “virtue signalling”, “pink bus feminism”, and so-called “camplaining”.

The MP for South West Norfolk also hit out at what she claimed was the dominance of “identity politics, loud lobby groups and the idea of lived experience” as she called for a a move away from quotas, targets, unconscious bias training and diversity statements, which she dismissed as “tools of the left”.

Mandu Reid, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, told The Independent: “Truss has shown just how much she enjoys playing culture war games, while the economic situation for women gets more serious every day.

“If she was brave enough to call a general election, she would soon find out what women think of this politics of no substance.”

Mr Sunak has also been accused of pushing culture war rhetoric in a desperate bid to revive his flagging leadership campaign. The former chancellor last month pledged to review the Equalities Act to stop the “woke nonsense” it has permitted to “permeate public life”.

Despite previously insisting he has “zero interest in fighting a so-called culture war”, the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire promised to take on “left-wing agitators” and “end the brainwashing, the vandalism and the finger pointing”.

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Dr Hannah Barham-Brown, deputy leader of the Women’s Equality Party, said she was pessimistic about the prospect of either candidate as PM.

“What little record they each have on women’s rights is poor to say the least. Sunak has abstained from all major votes to advance abortion rights, Truss abstained on almost all of them,” she added.

“And they’re both dodging questions on what should happen when MPs are accused of harassment or abuse, when the mishandling of this is what triggered a leadership election in the first place. Just last month Truss came under pressure when the Foreign Office shamefully removed reproductive rights commitments from an official statement on gender equality.”

Ms Truss, who some have suggested has been styling herself on Tory PM Margaret Thatcher, would be the UK’s third female prime minister if she defeats Mr Sunak.

Claire Reindorp, chief executive of Young Women’s Trust, which helps women on low pay, told The Independent she wanted to see “a commitment from our future prime minister to recognise and address the stark financial inequality that young women” face.

“On average a young woman earns 22 per cent less than a young man and this sets them up for a lifetime of inequality,” she added.

“Liz Truss has spoken about fairness, tackling discrimination in the workplace and flexible working. We now need to see these words turning into concrete plans to provide legal rights to flexible working, affordable and flexible childcare and stronger protection against discrimination.”

Andrea Simon, director of End Violence Against Women Coalition, said a key priority for the next PM must also be addressing violence against women and girls.

“This means investing in long-term, specialist prevention work including sustained public campaigns that aim to shift the attitudes that drive and underpin harmful behaviours, and delivering holistic prevention work in schools and education settings,” she added.

“Currently, we know that the government has invested less than 10 per cent of the budget it has calculated is needed to deliver new relationships and sex curriculum. This is just not good enough.

“We need the government to urgently put adequate investment in place to reverse the decimation of specialist frontline services for victims and survivors of male violence, with a particular focus on specialist services that are led by and for Black and minoritised women, which have been at the sharp end of funding cuts.”

The Independent contacted Ms Truss’s team for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.