Melanie C refused to take photo with Liz Truss: ‘Flipping disgrace’
Melanie C isn’t a fan of Liz Truss. (Getty/Unsplash)
Spice Girl Melanie C has revealed that she refused to pose with Liz Truss while slamming her handling of the UK’s economy
Sporty Spice weighed in on the newly appointed prime minister’s much-criticised trickle-down economics plan in an interview with Times Radio at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Sunday (9 October).
“It’s a very difficult time, as we all know, in the UK right now, and I come from an area of the UK where lots of people struggle financially,” said Melanie C.
“I try not to be political but in all honesty, it’s a flipping disgrace,” she added.
The Spice Girl added that she was “in a privileged position” and that she couldn’t “get up on my high horse and start saying things,” but the political situation was too dire for her to stay silent.
Truss is already fighting for political survival just weeks after taking office, with her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s controversial mini-budget sending the pound plummeting, and leaving many unsure of how they will afford the cost of living – all while the rich benefit from tax cuts and the scrapping of the cap on bankers’ bonuses.
“I think we all feel just so worn out by it all and it concerns me what’s going to happen,” Melanie C continued. “People are desperate, what is going to happen?”
The star then indicated that she refused to take a photo with Truss and fellow band member Geri Horner – better known as Ginger Spice – during the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 final at Wembley Stadium in July.
“I didn’t have my photograph taken with Liz at a certain event I was at recently. Let’s just leave it at that,” she said.
She explained that she refused to take the photo due to her beliefs, despite an effort to “avoid political issues,” adding that the prime minister only had girl power “in essence.”
Geri was met with significant flack for smiling next to Truss – who was running against Rishi Sunak for the Tory leadership at the time – during the game, as well as for taking a photo with Tory MP Nadine Dorries.
Dorries posted a photo to Twitter on 31 July hugging the star, writing: “Girl power radiating from Wembley tonight.”
Girl power radiating from Wembley tonight ?✌? pic.twitter.com/uVKrOnnJlA
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) July 31, 2022
While Spice Girls fans were upset and disappointed over Geri’s seeming endorsement, many weren’t surprised considering the girl group’s history of right-wing statements.
During a 1996 interview with The Spectator, Geri said that the Spice Girls were “true Thatcherites” and claimed that Margaret Thatcher was “the first Spice Girl, the pioneer of our ideology – Girl Power.”
This is, of course, the same so-called “pioneer” that implemented the incredibly discriminatory Section 28 law, which prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” in schools and local authority establishments.
Melanie C recently set the record on the statement, saying to The Independent that Thatcher was “absolutely not” the “first Spice Girl” despite what other band members had said.
“Geri, in the past, was very vocal about her support for Margaret Thatcher. I’m from Liverpool. It was a name that was not celebrated in that region,” she said.
In the same Spectator interview, Posh Spice Victoria Beckham also promoted Eurosceptic talking points, including the European federal plan that saw many countries adopt the Euro – a plan that she called an “outrage.”
“The Euro-bureaucrats are destroying every bit of national identity,” Victoria continued. “Let me give you an example – those new passports are revolting, an insult to our kingdom. We must keep our national individuality.”
