Liz Truss once said she found foreign affairs "really boring" and didn't want want to become Foreign Secretary, her former Tory colleague has claimed.
Former Cabinet Minister Rory Stewart claimed Ms Truss struggled to understand why he was "obsessed" with diplomacy.
He made the comments in the first episode of his new podcast, The Rest Is Politics, hosted with former head of Downing Street comms, Alastair Campbell.
Ms Truss was even accused of thinking her job is "about Instagram " in the podcast.
Mr Stewart said: “I remember when I was running for the Foreign Affairs Committee, as I started, and then later to be chair of (the) Defence Committee, Liz Truss saying to me ‘I can’t understand why you’re obsessed with foreign affairs, I find it really boring – the last thing I want to do is to be Foreign Secretary'.
“Actually she was speaking for a whole generation.
"All these people wanted to get on the Treasury Committee… nobody wanted to do foreign affairs and defence. Britain was already beginning to turn very, very inward.”
Former Tory MP Mr Stewart was knocked out of the 2019 Tory leadership race, coming in third place.
He claimed there is a sense that "nobody really prioritises foreign affairs, or haven't for a long time in British politics"
Savaging Ms Truss, Mr Campbell accused her of focusing too much on social media.
“Honestly, Liz Truss… she really does seem to think it’s about Instagram. She does seem to think the job is about Instagram," Mr Campbell said.
"You’re the Foreign Secretary, for God’s sake.”
Ms Truss has been mocked for being "too focused on her photo ops", as Emily Thornberry once claimed.
Photoshopped snaps of the Foreign Secretary are littered on Twitter, with many appearing to mock her Christmas photoshoot.
Mr Stewart, who was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee from July 2010 to June 2014, and chaired the Defence Committee from May 2014 to March 2015, also said he thought the current Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, was doing a “good job”.
“I think he actually has surprised people. I think he’s been one of the real performers,” he said.
