What was claimed
Liz Truss’s father has tweeted saying she could not tie her shoelaces until she was 12, and asking her to “turn against fascism”.
Our verdict
The tweet is fake and has since been deleted.
Tweet from Liz Truss’s father calling her ‘poo-poo bear’ is fake
A now-deleted tweet which had over 10,000 retweets appeared to show Conservative leadership candidate Liz Truss’s father, John Truss, saying: “Her mother and I would be surprised if she could deliver anything - she was unable to tie her shoelaces until she was 12. Please turn against fascism poo-poo bear.”
The tweet, allegedly sent from the account @TheSocialistProf appears in response to a tweet from Ms Truss saying: “I have a clear vision for our country and the economy - and the experience and resolve to deliver it.”
This isn’t a genuine tweet from Ms Truss’s father. The fake tweet was also posted on Facebook.
Though it does appear to have used a real picture of Mr Truss as its profile picture, as many have pointed out, there is no account with the handle @TheSocialistProf on Twitter.
The Twitter account that shared what appeared to be a screenshot of the tweet from Mr Truss clarified that the picture was not real in other tweets which have since been deleted.
It has been reported in the Express that Ms Truss’s father, who was a maths professor at Leeds University, has political beliefs that do not align with his daughter’s. The Times has also reported that Ms Truss does not think her father would vote for her in a general election. Ms Truss told the Guardian in 2009 that she was “brought up in a very left-wing household”.
Image courtesy of Policy Exchange
