Truss and Boris are now backing Trump… and ought to be ashamed of themselves

She believes in free trade, he believes in the Ukrainian cause – and Donald Trump firmly believes in neither. Yet both former prime ministers now say he should be president. What is the matter with them, asks John Rentoul

Former prime minister Liz Truss gives a speech at CPAC, Washington’s annual conservatives conference, where Trump will deliver the keynote this weekend (AP)

There is a case for refusing to take Liz Truss seriously. After all, she has started to use the phrase “the deep state” as if it means something, and as if that thing was responsible for her failure as prime minister.

She has started to contradict herself with the wilful abandon of someone who sees politics as entertainment. “I will fight, even if it’s not popular,” she told the CPAC conference in Washington, a jamboree of the American right that is in thrall to Donald Trump.

This is just weeks after launching a group in the UK called “Popular Conservatism”. Back in Washington, she attacked “Cinos” – Conservatives In Name Only – which she confusingly pronounced chinos, who apparently say: “I want to be popular, I don’t want to upset people, I don’t want to look like a mean person, I want my friends to like me.”