Liz Truss says the EU 'only understands pain'

“That being the case, you have to proceed on that basis,” she argued. “The only thing they understand is pain. We should have told them we were pre­pared to go for no deal, put tariffs on their agricultural imports, and pursue a trade agreement with the U.S.”

Britain, she argued, “potentially had a lot of leverage” in its talks on quitting the bloc, but “never used it.”

“When you have a prime minister and a chan­cellor both keen to listen to cautious civil servants, that sort of bold, bellicose approach was never going to fly,” she added.

Truss served in May’s Cabinet during Brexit talks, first as justice secretary and then in a senior role in the finance ministry. May’s government disintegrated as it tried repeatedly to get a Brexit deal through the British parliament.

Truss later took on the trade and foreign briefs in Boris Johnson’s own ill-fated government, before succeeding him as prime minister — for just 49 chaotic days.

Truss campaigned for Remain in the run-up to 2016’s Brexit vote, but has since restyled herself as a born-again Brexiteer.