Liz Truss is prepared to nuke us all into annihilation because it's an 'important part' of the job

Here’s something to think about when you’re drifting off to sleep tonight – the person likely to be our next prime minister is prepared to nuke us all into annihilation and says it's an 'important part' of the job.

Liz Truss has emerged as the favourite in the Tory leadership race, and has now said she was "ready" to hit the nuclear button if required.

The Foreign Secretary was talking at the hustings event at the NEC in Birmingham on Tuesday evening when she was asked about the prospect by host John Pienaar.

Pienaar said the idea of pressing the button would make him "physically sick", but Truss said it was an “important duty”.

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"One of the first things that will happen when and if you become Prime Minister, you'll be ushered into a room, a very private room at Number 10, and there will be laid out in front of you what are called the letters of last resort,” Pienaar said.

"Your orders to our Trident boat captain on whether you, prime minister Liz Truss, is giving the order to unleash nuclear weapons,” he added.

The Foreign Secretary said she was "ready" to press the red buttonGetty/iStock

"It would mean global annihilation. I won't ask you if you would press the button, you'll say yes, but faced with that task I would feel physically sick. How does that thought make you feel?"

Truss answered by saying: "I think it's an important duty of the prime minister and I'm ready to do that… I'm ready to do that."

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised – especially after Truss’s name became synonymous with nuclear escalation for a brief time earlier this year.

Back in February, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that Vladimir Putin placed nuclear deterrence forces on high alert after statements from Truss.

According to the Interfax news agency, Mr Peskov told a press briefing: “Statements were made by various representatives at various levels on possible altercations or even collisions and clashes between Nato and Russia.

“We believe that such statements are absolutely unacceptable. I would not call the authors of these statements by name, although it was the British foreign minister.”

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