The former PM’s body language as she quit outside Downing Street has been explained (Picture: PA/Reuters)
Liz Truss’ ‘sickly smile’ was a ‘mask of bravado’ as she resigned as Prime Minister, a body language expert has explained.
As the former PM said she would be stepping down she tried to ‘style it out’ applying a ‘mask of what looked like bravado’ an expert told Metro.co.uk
Truss stood at the lectern outside of Downing Street with her husband beside her, who looked like he was ready to catch her with his ‘penguin wings’ arms, expert Judi James said.
Ms Truss spent just 44 days in office, and despite being the shortest serving PM ever it shouldn’t be a surprise she looked ‘drained of blood and energy’ in her speech.
Judi told Metro.co.uk: ‘Looking physically drained of blood and energy, with her pallid face suggesting shock and her eyes looking tired, Truss clearly still decided to style it out in terms of her resignation body language, applying a mask of what looked like bravado as she delivered her desperately brief message.’
‘Her walk from door to lectern had that signature bounce she used in the Commons yesterday. As she began to talk she applied a sickly smile that remained throughout.
‘With her cheeks slightly rounded she seemed to signal that she was sharing some kind of a joke with the rest of us and she ended with what was almost a laugh of acknowledgment, as though she was saying ‘I know what you’re thinking’.
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Liz Truss had her ‘signature bounce’ as she walked up to the lectern (Picture: Getty)
Her husband stood with ‘penguin wings’ as she announced she was stepping down (Picture: Getty)
She had a ‘sickly smile’ that looked like she was joking as she spoke to the nation (Credits: PA)
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She added: ‘Her achievements in office took up a few seconds as she hadn’t even had time to change the wallpaper.
‘She did seem to imply some sense of still being in charge though. She has a few days left in office and the use of the word ‘we’ implied she’d still see herself in the driving seat.’
Judi said there was no time and no offer of anymore ‘negative emotions’ behind her mask, and said the speedy speech won’t be one to remember.
She said: ‘There was no time and no offer of any glimpses of any more negative emotions behind the mask. Thatcher’s tears, May’s choking voice and even Boris’s bristling indignation will all remain in the memory but this masked and very speedy speech will not.’
Her husband, Hugh O’Leary, looked to stand behind the PM as she made the biggest announcement of her career.
Judi said his body language was more revealing than his wife, as his ‘arms stuck out from his sides like penguin wings’ ready to catch Truss if she fell.
She said: ‘We barely got to learn her husband’s name but he stood behind her and to one side and it was perhaps his body language that was the more revealing.
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‘His arms stuck out from his sides like penguin wings. He looked rather poised as though maybe waiting to catch Truss if she faltered or fell.
‘No PDAs passed between them but neither had they during her brief time in office, apart from one joint smiling pose on the steps six weeks before.’
Another expert, Darren Stanton analyzed Liz Truss’ resignation speech and said her ‘hauncing shoulders’ showed ‘clear signs of relief.’
He added: ‘Her facial expressions at end of the speech exhibited that ‘weight had been lifted’.
He also said Truss’ body language during the speech was ‘more natural’ than at PMQs.
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Body language expert Judi James has had her take on what Liz Truss looked like as she handed in her resignation alongside her husband.