Labour has called for Liz Truss and Lee Anderson to lose the Conservative whip over media appearances that have also caused anger within Tory ranks.
In a letter to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, on Friday, the shadow paymaster general, Jonathan Ashworth, said “egregious” remarks made by the pair “cannot go unchecked or unchallenged”.
Truss had used a talk at the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac) in the US to claim her efforts to cut taxes were “sabotaged” by the “administrative state and the deep state”.
The former prime minister, whose disastrous 2022 mini-budget unleashed economic chaos, later took part in an interview with the former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon and remained silent as he hailed the far-right figure Tommy Robinson a “hero”.
The senior Tory MP Sajid Javid was among those to criticise her for not challenging the comment, writing in a post on X: “I’d hope every MP would confront such a statement head on. Liz should really know better.”
Javid also hit out at Anderson after the former deputy Conservative chairman appeared to suggest in an appearance on GB News that the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, had “given our capital away” to “Islamists”.
The former chancellor said the remarks were “ridiculous”, while Labour said they showed “appalling racism and Islamophobia”.
The Conservative peer Gavin Barwell, who was Theresa May’s chief of staff in No 10, described the comment as a “despicable slur”.
Sunak is being pressed by Labour to “show some leadership” and take action over the remarks.
Ashworth said that a failure to do so would amount to “allowing the divisive, deluded and dangerous views of the far-right into mainstream British politics and continue to give credibility to such a degradation of British institutions and cultural life on the international stage”.
Truss had claimed in her speech that Conservatives were “now operating in what is a hostile environment” and that “leftwing elites” would be “aided and abetted by our enemies in China, Iran and Russia”.
When interviewed by Bannon after her speech, Truss also said she was willing to work to change the Conservative party with Nigel Farage, the Reform UK founder and former Ukip leader.
She suggested that Bannon, who faces fraud charges in New York, could “come over to Britain and sort out Britain”.
In his letter to Mr Sunak, Ashworth wrote: “For a senior politician to engage in spreading such blatant conspiracy theories is incredibly damaging to our democracy, our institutions and social cohesion.”
He added: “For a former prime minister to make such remarks, while on an international visit to a country with whom the UK shares a special relationship which upholds liberal values, is an unforgivable lowering of the office of prime minister, which lessens the United Kingdom’s standing in the world and needs to be acted upon.
“It’s time to show some leadership and take on the extremists in your party. Liz Truss and Lee Anderson must no longer sit as Conservative MPs. Their words cannot go unchecked or unchallenged.”
Downing Street has been contacted for comment.
Truss resigned in October 2022 after the fallout from her botched financial statement, becoming the country’s shortest-serving prime minister after just 49 days in office.
At Cpac, she shared a stage with Trump, whose presidential campaign she all but directly endorsed, and Farage.
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2024-02-24 10:56:00Z
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