Liz Truss was ‘turning it up to 11’ – former aide

Liz Truss took a Spinal Tap approach to government, demanding the volume be turned up to 11 her former chief speech writer has said.

As a matter of bitter regret, Bennett said the former prime minister had arrived in Downing Street determined to put rocket boosters under the economy and it was a matter of bitter regret that her efforts had failed.

Truss's short-lived premiership ended up in financial chaos after her mini-budget led to financial chaos, which forced the Bank of England to take emergency action to prevent pension funds collapsing.

Her resignation followed a tumultuous 45 days in office during which Truss's mini-budget crashed the markets, she lost two key ministers and shed the confidence of almost all her own MPs.

Before her resignation, Truss allowed her then chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, to take the blame for September's mini-budget despite it being widely seen as a joint project.

Bennett, who made the comments while appearing on Liz Truss's Big Gamble, a BBC Radio 4 documentary that took a close look at her premiership, said her determination to take fast action in what she thought would fix the economy reflected her willingness to push the envelope comparing her approach to Spinal Tap, the spoof band.

Bennett told the BBC: I think Liz felt that she had gambled before in her life, and then she could gamble again on this.

The stakes would be high, but the payoff was worth it in the sense of taking that fast action. I think she always liked to be the one that was ready to push the envelope and would only back down if there was good reason.

I think Liz was someone who would take this kind of Spinal Tap approach, turn it up to 11, and only if necessary, turn it down again. According to Bennett, Truss believed she had the answers to the problems with Britain's economy, which included 45 billion worth of tax cuts.

She felt that it was time to take the hard decisions and root it out by trying to break with the consensus that had meant that Britain had been flagging along with international competitiveness.