Facts

Liz Truss gave no evidence for her claim that ‘woke’ civil service culture strays into antisemitism. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA civil service union, later said: “She provides no evidence for her accusation that many civil servants will find both insulting and abhorrent.

“A Prime Minister is also Minister for the Civil Service, and throwing around such unfounded inflammatory accusations illustrates a lack of leadership, the very thing that she claims to be demonstrating.”

Sam Freedman, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and himself Jewish, said the comment was “bizarre”.

He added: “I worked in the civil service for three years and have worked with numerous officials on various things since then and have never once experienced any anti-semitism.”

Verdict

Truss levelled an unsubstantiated, serious and inflammatory allegation at the civil service. 

We emailed Liz Truss’ office offering her the chance to respond. The email was received, but no reply.