Overview

• Truss joined bare-knuckle fighter Dougie Joyce at a Scunthorpe United stadium event in May and appeared in an Instagram video endorsing his Joyce’s Irish Whiskey.
• Joyce served a 19-month sentence for a 2022 attack on a 78-year-old man and received a further 13-month term for a violent brawl at a wake.
• A spokesperson for Truss said she attended the launch to support town regeneration efforts and Scunthorpe FC, insisting she was unpaid.
• Opposition leaders including Keir Starmer have cited the association and her 2022 mini-Budget record to question her decision-making.
• Truss’s weekend appearance alongside Hungary’s Viktor Orban at a CPAC conference underscores her connections with hard-right figures as she considers a return to politics.