Truss vs the Establishment, Round Two: Healey Used His Budget to Mock Her Book

News | By Matt, Editor

Labour MPs cheered. On Budget day, Chancellor John Healey stood at the despatch box and went for Liz Truss: “Her new book says she could have taken the British people to Mars.” (Hansard, 28 October 2026; The Independent)

Truss didn’t laugh. That evening she fired back on X: “Burnham’s Budget is a nothing burger! Debt is rising, growth is down as I predicted in 2022.” (Liz Truss on X, 28 October 2026)

Truss versus the Establishment is now in round two.

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Key facts

• The book: Bank Job, 99 pages, published on 26 October 2026 by Free Speech Press. (Amazon UK)
• The jibe: made in Healey’s Budget statement on 28 October 2026. (Hansard)
• Healey’s own figures: debt rose from 83.2% of GDP this year to 83.8% next year. (Hansard)
• 22 September 2022: the Bank of England voted to cut its gilt holdings by £80bn. That was the day before the mini-budget. (Bank of England)
• 28 September 2022: the Bank began emergency purchases of long-dated gilts. (Bank of England)
• Suppression: we found no evidence of any attempt to ban or block the book.

Round one: 2022

Truss’s mini-budget came on Friday 23 September 2022. The day before, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee had voted to cut its gilt holdings by £80 billion. The Bank said this was “in line with the strategy set out” in August. (Bank of England, September 2022)

Then came the crash. In a letter to MPs, the Bank said long-term gilt yields rose 30 basis points on 23 September, and that sterling fell around 4% against the dollar. Then pension funds using “liability-driven investment” (LDI) raised the alarm. The Bank said their warnings implied forced sales of at least £50 billion of long-term gilts. (Sir Jon Cunliffe to the Treasury Committee, 5 October 2022)

On 28 September the Bank stepped in, buying long-dated gilts “on whatever scale is necessary”. It also postponed its own gilt sales until 31 October. (Bank of England, 28 September 2022)

Within weeks Truss was gone, after 45 days. (The Telegraph)

The sabotage charge

Truss says this was no accident. “The Mini Budget would have worked,” she wrote on 25 October. “It was sabotaged by the Bank of England and Tory traitors before it was tried.” (Liz Truss on X)

In the book, she writes of the Bank’s move: “No one in the incoming government was warned. I was not briefed.” (The Telegraph, 24 October 2026)

Some economists back her up. Daniela Gabor wrote that Truss’s message was “essentially correct, however much you dislike the messenger”. (Daniela Gabor on X, 27 October 2026)

The Bank’s own record tells a different story. Its letter to MPs puts the sell-off on the day of the growth plan, saying sterling was “broadly stable” on 22 September. (Bank of England) The Telegraph reported that the Bank declined to comment on her book. (The Telegraph, 24 October 2026)

Round two: the Establishment strikes back

In the Commons, Healey said: (Hansard, 28 October 2026)

“The last time the IMF called the UK a standout was when Liz Truss crashed the economy. Her new book says she could have taken the British people to Mars. In reality, what she achieved in government, with help from the shadow Chancellor, was blowing a big black hole in the budget.”

John Healey, Chancellor, 28 October 2026

The Mars line comes from the book’s final chapter, which imagines Britain in 2040. (Politico)

The night before, on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Morgan had asked her: “do you like lettuce? Do you eat lettuce?” Truss replied: “it’s just a puerile joke, Piers, isn’t it?” (HuffPost UK, 28 October 2026)

Morgan pressed on: “If you’re as ballsy as you say you are, why didn’t you just stick it out?” Truss: “I resigned with a gun against my head, Piers!” (Piers Morgan Uncensored; trailer)

The critics piled in. The Telegraph’s Simon Heffer gave the book zero stars, calling it “the most deranged” book he had reviewed. (The Telegraph) The Independent’s Sean O’Grady called it her “worst book yet”. (The Independent)

Lord Gove, named in the book as a “Tory traitor”, said: “It’s kind of Liz to thank us but she very much managed it on her own.” (The Telegraph)

Truss’s verdict: “Of course the establishment wants to attack my book.” (Piers Morgan Uncensored on X)

Is anyone trying to ban it?

No. We found no legal action, injunction or official attempt to stop the book. The attacks have been ridicule, not censorship.

Our view

This section is opinion.

Healey had the whole country listening, and he spent his moment on a joke. Meanwhile his own figures showed debt still rising. The OBR forecasts a record tax burden of 37.9% of GDP. (OBR, October 2026)

Agree with her or not, look at who is laughing: a Labour Chancellor, a TV host asking about lettuce, and the Tory MPs she says turned on her. The Bank of England, meanwhile, declined to comment.

Unelected institutions hold huge power over our money. If the Bank did nothing wrong in September 2022, it should come out and say so.

FAQ

What did Healey say?

He said: “Her new book says she could have taken the British people to Mars.” (Hansard)

What is Bank Job?

It is Truss’s 99-page book, published on 26 October 2026, arguing that the Bank of England brought down her government. (Amazon UK)

Did the Bank sabotage her?

That is Truss’s claim. The Bank’s own record puts the market turmoil after the mini-budget, and it declined to comment on the book.

Is the book being banned?

No. We found no evidence of any attempt to block it.

Sources

• Hansard, 28 October 2026: Financial Statement and Budget Report
• Liz Truss on X: 25 October, 28 October
• The Telegraph, 24 October 2026: Traitorous Gove, Cartlidge and Stride toppled me; 26 October: Heffer review
• Bank of England: September 2022 minutes; gilt market operation, 28 September 2022; Cunliffe letter, 5 October 2022
• HuffPost UK, 28 October 2026: Piers Morgan and Liz Truss; Piers Morgan Uncensored on X: clip, trailer
• The Independent; Independent reviews; Politico; Daniela Gabor; OBR; Amazon UK
• Main image: Liz Truss official portrait, 2022. Photo: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street, Crown copyright, OGL v3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.