Liz Truss: What did Tory leadership candidate say in leaked audio? ‘Graft’ comments explained

A leaked audio recording has revealed Liz Truss said British workers need “more graft” and lacked the “skill and application” of foreign rivals.

In the clip, published by The Guardian, the Tory leadership frontrunner also said that productivity levels in London were very different to the rest of the UK.

At the time of the conversation, which took place five years ago, the current Foreign Secretary was serving as chief secretary to the Treasury.

So what exactly did Ms Truss say, and what has the reaction been? Here’s what you need to know.

What did Liz Truss say in the leaked recording?

Ms Truss suggested that British people do not work as hard as their foreign counterparts and “produce less per hour” than them, especially when compared to those in China.

She commented: “It’s partly a mindset and attitude thing, I think.

“If you go to China, it’s quite different, I can assure you.”

She argued that this has been a “historical fact” for decades, and called it a “fundamental issue” of British working culture.

“Essentially, if we’re going to be a richer country and a more prosperous country, that needs to change,” the Tory leadership candidate continued.

“But I don’t think people are that keen to change that.”

She also said the productivity in London is “very, very different” from the rest of the country.

This comes after Ms Truss was forced to make a U-turn earlier this month on plans to cut civil service pay outside of the capital.

The Foreign Secretary claimed at the time there had been a "wilful misrepresentation" of her policy, but ended up abandoning proposals for regional pay boards for civil servants and public sector workers.

In the audio, in which Ms Truss claimed “there’s a slight thing in Britain about wanting the easy answers,” the South West Norfolk MP also referenced a book she co-authored in 2012, Britannia Unchained - and said a passage from it was "mischaracterised".

The passage in question said that British workers were among the "worst idlers in the world".

However, last month, Ms Truss claimed to have not written that chapter, instead attributing it to fellow author and current deputy prime minister Dominic Raab.

Mr Raab later claimed that the authors, who also included Priti Patel and Kwasi Kwarteng, had taken “collective responsibility” for the book, adding: “It’s up to Liz to explain why she’s changed her view.”

At the end of the recording, Ms Truss also criticised those who suggest migrants are causing the problems in the UK.

She remarked: “That’s my reflection on the election… and the referendum.

“We say it’s all Europe that’s causing these huge problems… it’s all these migrants causing these problems.

“But actually what needs to happen is more… more graft. It’s not a popular message.”

What has Liz Truss said about the recording?

In response to the leaked audio, a source from the Foreign Secretary’s campaign team told Sky News that the “half-a-decade-old comments lack context.”

The spokesperson continued: “But one thing that is as clear today as ever before is a need to boost productivity, which leads to higher wages and a better quality of life for workers right across the UK.

"As prime minister, Liz will deliver an economy that is high wage, high growth and low tax."

The recording emerged just moments before Ms Truss appeared at the Conservative hustings event in Perth, Scotland, alongside her Tory leadership rival Rishi Sunak.

When asked about it at the hustings, she replied that “we need more productivity and more economic growth.”

She also said she wants to “unleash those opportunities” that were voted for in 2019.

What has the response been?

Labour was quick to criticise Ms Truss, with shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth branding her comments “grossly offensive”.

He told The Guardian: “With wages shrinking thanks to Tory failure to bring inflation under control and years of lacklustre growth, it’s grossly offensive for Liz Truss to effectively brand British workers lazy.”

He said that he hoped the days of her “Britannia Unchained fiasco” were behind her, but that the book’s ethos appears to be the “blueprint for her prospective government.”

Moving on to the cost of living crisis, the Leicester South MP said: “Workers across the country are working all hours to keep a roof over their heads, put food on the table and provide for their families.

“Liz Truss should be helping working people to cope with this cost of living crisis, as Labour this week outlined we would do, not peddling this offensive nonsense.”