The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Minister for Women and Equalities of the United Kingdom, Mary Elizabeth “Liz” Truss, has been criticized for comments she made about her plan to protect Jews from perceived “antisemitism and wokeism” in the British civil service and for promoting a stereotype of Jewish people as conservative businesspeople, according to a report by The Guardian on Friday.
Truss, who is a candidate for leader of the Conservative Party, vowed in a press release to “change woke civil service culture that strays into antisemitism,” according to The Independent.
Furthermore, Truss suggested that “setting up your own business” is a “Jewish value,” Sky News reported.
Criticism of Liz Truss
Steven Littlewood, assistant general secretary of the FDA civil service union (First Division Association), said on Sky News that Truss's implication that the civil service is rife with antisemitism was unfounded, adding that Jewish FDA members had contacted him saying that they “feel really uncomfortable about being drawn into the middle of a political controversy and used to attack the civil service.”
“The Conservatives have been in government for more than 12 years now and, for most of that time, Liz Truss has been a minister.”
Dave Penman, general secretary, FDA
Furthermore, FDA general secretary Dave Penman suggested that Truss's claims about the culture of the civil service were ironic, due to the fact that she has been in the government for years.
“The Conservatives have been in government for more than 12 years now and, for most of that time, Liz Truss has been a minister,” he said, according to Sky News.