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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
The Jouker

'Tea sock': Liz Truss mocked for basic blunder on Irish leader's title

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss doesn't seem overly on top of her brief

YOU could expect the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom to have an inkling about foreign affairs – if the administration wasn’t run by Boris Johnson at least.

Under this ailing Prime Minister, loyalty to the Brexit cause trumps any actual talent.

As such, the UK finds itself with such peerless talent as Dominic Raab as Justice Secretary, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, and Liz Truss ripping up the Northern Ireland protocol.

The Foreign Secretary has been out on the defensive as the UK faces renewed legal action from the EU after the move to unilaterally override large parts of the international agreement.

Amid claiming that there was “absolutely no reason why the EU should react in a negative way” to the Tories’ international law-breaking, Truss proved she really doesn’t even know the basics of the situation.

“I would highly encourage the Irish tea-sock to discuss this with the EU,” she told RTE News.

She presumably meant to say “Taoiseach”, the Irish Gaelic word for leader and a title currently held by Fianna Fáil's Micheal Martin. 

The word is pronounced more like “tee-shuhk” or “tee-shuck” – definitely not “tea sock”.

Twitter had a field day, mocking Truss for her ignorance on how to pronounce the Irish premier’s title.

“If you know you know #teasock,” Scots singer Iona Fyfe tweeted, sharing a photo of herself with a mug of tea with a sock.

“No, Irish tea sock, an Irish sock for tea,” user Joe Gooch added, sharing an image of the iconic “four candles” sketch from the Two Ronnies.

“Tea sock? Gawd love her and her endearing way of coming across like someone who won being Foreign Secretary in a radio phone-in,” Vincent Dovey added.

“Great to see the UK Gov showing its usual reverence for the Irish language. Maybe next time Google it,” Aisling O'Loghlen wrote.

“If Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and countless other British people/politicians/Royals have shown the basic courtesy of making the effort to pronounce the word ‘Taoiseach’ correctly why not the current UK Foreign Secretary??” Ciara Quill added.

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