Liz Truss quiz: did she really say that in her book?

Cometh the hour, cometh the memoir, and from Tuesday people can enjoy in full the apocalyptically titled Liz Truss book Ten Years to Save the West. She says she wants people to read it to “learn the lessons of the battle I lost”. That battle apparently being staying in Downing Street for more than 49 days. But how much have you picked up from the published snippets and Truss’s interviews about her book? Can you spot what she actually said from our ridiculous inventions? And did she really think that about the Queen dying? Find out with our Liz Truss quiz!

The Guardian’s Liz Truss quiz

1. What did Truss say was the advice that the Queen gave her when she was made prime minister?

   1. "Always pack a black dress"

   2. "Pace yourself"

   3. "Being a woman in politics is tough"

   4. "Try to last longer than 49 days"

2. What does Truss say she thought when was informed that Queen Elizabeth II had died?

   1. "Bloody hell"

   2. "This is so unfair"

   3. "Why me? Why now?"

   4. "I have no black dresses in Downing Street yet"

3. Which supermarket does Truss complain found it difficult to deliver to her in Downing Street?

   1. Lidl

   2. Tesco

   3. Sainsbury's

   4. Ocado

4. What did Liz Truss say about the accommodation for the prime minister in Downing Street

   1. "It was gaudy and full of tat"

   2. "I'm not sure it would be rated well on Airbnb"

   3. "My cats immediately hated it and fought with Larry"

   4. "You wouldn't expect Emmanuel Macron to live like this"

5. She said her Downing Street apartment was infested with what?

   1. Mice

   2. Fleas

   3. Earwigs

   4. The ghost of Andrew Bonar Law, who was briefly prime minister from October 1922 to May 1923, which she now takes to have been a portent of doom

6. Who kept leaving protein shakes with their name on in the grace-and-favour home Truss used as foreign secretary?

   1. Dominic Raab

   2. Gavin Williamson

   3. James Cleverly

   4. Michael Gove

7. Which of these did Liz Truss say …

   1. "Despite now being one of the most photographed people in the country, I had no veto over papers picking unflattering shots"

   2. "Despite now being one of the most photographed people in the country, there was no expenses allowance for the cost of outfits"

   3. "Despite now being one of the most photographed people in the country, I had to organise my own Instagram posts"

   4. "Despite now being one of the most photographed people in the country, I had to organise my own hair and make-up appointments"

8. In her book, Liz Truss said "By 2022, the average Briton was no better off than they were in 2007, and the state was spending too much — almost half of the UK's national income". How many of those years between 2007 and 2022 had Liz Truss spent as a member of the government?

   1. Four

   2. Six

   3. Eight

   4. Ten

9. Who had to pop to the shops and buy Liz Truss some cough medicine, which she said showed the lack of support she had?

   1. Liz Truss

   2. The husband of Liz Truss

   3. One of Liz Truss's children

   4. The prime minister's diary secretary

10. Who did Liz Truss say she mistook for Dr Jill Biden at the UN general assembly in 2022?

    1. The French president's wife, Brigitte Macron

    2. Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska

    3. The former prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern

    4. The prime minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen

11. What did Truss say she was pleased her daughters were able to do while she was prime minister?

    1. Climb the Elizabeth Tower and see Big Ben in action

    2. Sit in on a cabinet meeting as "work experience"

    3. Visit the nuclear bunker

    4. Live away from Downing Street altogether, as Truss quit before they were scheduled to move in

12. Why does Liz Truss say she regrets announcing her mini-budget on a Friday?

    1. Because it couldn't be discussed on the BBC's Question Time show on a Thursday night

    2. Because it would be several days before she could address it at PMQs

    3. Because she gave her Conservative opponents a whole weekend to co-ordinate their opposition

    4. Because it meant she had to spend the weekend in Downing Street instead of escaping to the country

13. With economic meltdown happening all around her, and having U-turned on the 45p top rate income tax, Liz Truss went to her first weekend at Chequers. What did she say about it?

    1. "I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to enjoy reminders of the English civil war"

    2. "The furniture was still covered in dog hairs from the last time Boris, Carrie and Dilyn stayed"

    3. "The chintzy decoration was absolutely appalling and I could not imagine entertaining guests there"

    4. "There was hardly any phone reception and I spent most of the weekend hanging out a top floor window trying to make calls"

14. How did Truss describe the situation as she lay awake the night before having to sack her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng?

    1. "It was like a game of Dungeons & Dragons where the rest of your party has fled, and you stand alone against the ogre of the economic establishment"

    2. "It was like a game of Tetris when you start losing control and the pieces are getting closer and closer to the top"

    3. "It was like a game of Pac-Man when you've run out of power pills and the ghosts are closing in"

    4. "It was like a game of Space Invaders when the bunkers have crumbled and the aliens have sped right up"

15. What did Jeremy Hunt do when Liz Truss first phoned him to ask him to be chancellor

    1. Rejected the call because he didn't recognise the number

    2. Refused the job on the grounds he thought he was being pranked by a hoax

    3. Said "Bloody hell!"

    4. Accepted immediately but only on the condition his Peloton bike would be allowed in his office

16. How did Liz Truss describe the experience of resigning as prime minister after just 49 days in charge?

    1. "The culmination of decades of the liberal establishment taking control of all of the organs of our great nation"

    2. "Just another dramatic moment in a very strange film in which I had somehow been cast"

    3. "Childbirth excepted, the most painful moment of my life"

    4. "A humiliation so profound that it caused me to retire from public life and devote the rest of my time on earth to helping good causes"

Solutions

1:B - The Queen had previously commented to Truss about being a woman in politics being tough, but on this occasion "Pace yourself" was the advice, 2:C - Truss wrote, "To be told this on only my second full day as prime minister felt utterly unreal. In a state of shock, I found myself thinking: 'Why me? Why now?'", 3:D - Apparently it was a nightmare getting it delivered and when it finally was, nobody let her know because they didn't want to disturb the prime minister, 4:B - Truss said "it was surprisingly spacious though it felt a bit soulless". She said Larry the cat was lovely by the way, 5:B - In the book she implies it might be down to Boris Johnson's dog Dilyn having lived there, 6:A - Truss and Raab were forced to share Grade I listed building Chevening House, which she described as "like an exalted student flat-share", the poor lamb, 7:D - Truss said "We've created a system where the prime minister is treated like a president but has nothing like the kind of institutional support for the office of a president". I'm sure King Charles will be fascinated to hear that, 8:D - Bingo! Liz Truss was education under-secretary (2012–2014), environment secretary (2014–2016), justice secretary and lord chancellor (2016–2017), chief secretary to the Treasury (2017–2019), international trade secretary (2019–2021) and foreign secretary (2021–2022) and yet still the country was apparently in a terrible state, 9:D - Surely everybody's worst nightmare when they are ill is to have to send one of the staff to the chemists, 10:A - An easy mistake to make since they are both women and blond, 11:C - She also said "I'm pleased they at least managed to fit in a sleepover with their friends", although given what else she said about the accommodation who knows if the friends were grateful. They were also apparently sneaked undercover into the Conservative conference in the guise of "Young Welsh Conservatives" which you would think would make them stick out like a sore thumb, 12:C - Apparently without irony Truss observes that "Part of the problem we faced was a distinct shortage of expert voices supporting our agenda. Broadcasters and press alike struggled to find economists and commentators who could explain what we were trying to do.", 13:A - She said "Chequers had at one stage been owned by Oliver Cromwell’s descendants, and on the upper floor the Cromwell corridor was replete with memorabilia" but she wasn't in the mood. It was Chevening House where she was annoyed about the phone reception, 14:B - No, we're not sure why either, 15:A - She did earlier in the book suggest that she hadn't made many friends in politics, 16:B - "Somehow cast as prime minister", what a way to describe your own career

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   What a sobering experience for all concerned