Liz Truss urges Government to protect Telegraph’s editorial independence

In her interview with The Telegraph, Ms Truss said the UK must try and prevent the UAE from being drawn into an alliance with hostile foreign states, including Russia and China.

Citing the rise of the USSR during the Cold War, she said: “What worries me is that we have this axis of authoritarian regimes trying to build their influence around the world, and what we need to do is show strength. That is both economic strength, military strength and moral strength.

“We need to attract other countries who are not part of that axis to align with the West and to align with our values. No country is perfect. And if you only had allies that perfectly subscribe to every value that we hold dear in Britain, you wouldn’t have that many allies. So we need to reach out, in my view, to countries and persuade them.”

Ms Truss is visiting Washington DC to discuss foreign policy with wavering Republican congressmen, who have threatened to end security assistance from the US to Ukraine.

She said wars in Ukraine and Israel and concerns over Taiwan were part of the same conflict of democracies against “authoritarian dictators”.

“These are not multiple wars – this is the same war,” she added. “This is a war against freedom and democracy and our way of life. That’s what it is, and we should see it as such. If you look at Israel, or you look at Ukraine, or you look at Taiwan, these are free democracies that are neighbours to autocracies.

“We need to give our full support to the Israeli government. No ifs, no buts. I don’t want to see double standards applied, that Israel is held to different standards than other countries. 

“They are a free democracy in a part of the world where free democracies are rare and the heinous crimes, the rape, the brutality, the kidnapping of children that has taken place is truly horrific.”