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Liz Truss joined a bare-knuckle fighter at the launch party for his new whiskey brand – and mimicked the ex-convict’s catchphrase in an Instagram video.
The former Prime Minister was filmed holding up a bottle of Dougie Joyce’s spirit as he told his followers: ‘Just remember, Dougie Joyce loves ya.’
She adds sheepishly: ‘Liz Truss loves you.’
Truss’s appearance came just months after Joyce, who once boasted he was the ‘next Tyson Fury’, was released from prison after he beat up a 78-year-old man in a pub in November 2022.
A police officer said after his sentencing: ‘Joyce is an aggressive and violent man who intended to intimidate and inflict pain on a vulnerable 78-year-old man by carrying out this horrendous assault.
‘Joyce was wearing a large gold pyramid-style ring when he punched the man in the face, causing him significant injury due to the size and shape accelerated by force and the series of punches he endured.’
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He was jailed again in May last year after getting involved in a fight with a rival family at a wake.
Tagging Truss in an Instagram post, Joyce wrote: ‘It was a great honour to have former Prime Minister Liz Truss as a special guest at my event.
‘Her presence was a tremendous support, and she took the time to speak about the future of business and the steps we can take moving forward.’
He added that she ‘added a distinguished touch to the occasion’.
A spokesperson for Truss told Metro: ‘Liz attended the Scunthorpe event to support the people working to regenerate the town and Scunthorpe FC.
‘I thought the government believed in the rehabilitation of offenders.’
It is understood the ex-PM was not paid for her appearance at the event.
Truss served a memorably brief term in Number 10, lasting just 49 days in the second half of 2022 before she resigned over the reaction to her radical mini-budget.
At last year’s general election, she was among the highest-profile Conservative MPs to lose their seats.
She has since been invoked as a symbol of economic mismanagement by current PM Sir Keir Starmer, most recently in an attack on Nigel Farage.
Starmer labelled the Reform leader ‘Liz Truss 2.0’ over his plans to cut taxes and make benefits more generous.
Truss herself has not ruled out making a political comeback and has recently styled herself as a supporter of hard-right causes around the world.
At the weekend, she appeared alongside Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the CPAC Hungary event in Budapest.
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