“I think there are some brilliant American women in politics, but I don't think Kamala Harris is one of them,” Liz Truss said in an interview with Fox News earlier this week.
The comments, which were met with derision on social media, were the latest outburst from the short-lived prime minister on the US channel as she tries to find a new home after her 49 days in Downing Street.
It is also part of a broader trend of conservatives who have been pushed to the right of the party increasingly aligning themselves with the policies of Donald Trump rather than those of their counterparts at home.
Meanwhile, an influx of Britons offers a new opportunity for Fox – a longtime champion of Trump – as it grapples with its new position in the American media landscape.
With Election Day on November 5 approaching and American politics still in turmoil, industry observers expect this marriage of convenience to become increasingly popular.
While Truss' repositioning has caused a stir among American audiences, she is not the first to make the move across the pond.
Steve Hilton, a former political adviser to David Cameron, is perhaps best known for such a transition. He hosted The Next Revolution, a weekly current affairs program on Fox News between 2017 and 2023.
Others may follow. Boris Johnson, who has yet to start as a presenter on GB News, spoke at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last week, albeit to a nearly empty audience.
Nigel Farage, who was hired by Fox as a political analyst in 2017 and is a regular contributor to the channel, could also get more airtime, although finding time will be difficult as he juggles his GB News show with his new job as MP for Clacton.
For years, British writers like Douglas Murray have had a growing influence on right-wing thinking in the US. In many ways, it seems natural that politicians should follow suit.
Especially for Truss, whose book Ten Years to Save the West rails against the “liberal establishment” and who attended the RNC in Milwaukee with Trump, the US offers a natural ideological home base.
“It’s no surprise that Liz Truss has turned up, simply because if you look at the nature of what she said – low taxes, willingness to run up debt – these are all themes that resonate very much with Trump… particularly the idea that the system is conspiring against those who want radical change,” said media analyst Ian Whittaker.
“It's a Trumpian worldview that's going to really resonate with the public. So from that standpoint, I can totally see her carving out an extremely good niche for herself in the American market.”
For politicians who feel their ideas are not welcomed in Britain, American TV promises a receptive audience. And that's not to mention the high fees charged in the US.
It comes at a good time for Fox, as the network, once so dependent on Trump, now faces a shift in the power dynamics for a potential second term.
Rupert Murdoch is embroiled in a legal dispute with three of his children as he seeks to hand over sole control to his eldest son Lachlan. Many see him as a candidate for continuity who will maintain the media empire's right-wing stance.
“[Lachlan] “He’s a carbon copy of his father, except he doesn’t get involved,” says Alice Enders of Enders Analysis. “He’s not a kingmaker, he’s not like Rupert who actually saw himself as someone who controlled the outcome of elections.”
Fox is undoubtedly the crown jewel of Murdoch's empire, with profits of more than $700 million (£543 million) in its latest quarter.
The ratings show the channel is outpacing cable rivals CNN and MSNBC, averaging about 3.6 million viewers in prime time this month, according to Nielsen figures.
Still, it comes at a challenging time for cable TV, which is grappling with the shift to streaming. What’s more, the so-called “Trump bump” that many media outlets enjoyed during Trump’s first presidency appears not to have materialized.
“I think the first time it was a novelty. The second time, everybody’s pretty tired,” says a former CNN journalist. “People turned off the news during that time. The war, the elections, the chaos … people just got fed up.”
At the same time, Trump supporters who were once loyal to Fox now have more options to choose from. Rival conservative TV network Newsmax, while drawing a much lower average audience than Fox, managed to draw more than 3 million viewers each night of the RNC.
Trump’s own social media platform, Truth Social, launched in 2022, offers the former president a way to reach his supporters directly. The influence of X, now in the hands of outspoken Trump supporter Elon Musk, will also play a significant role in the election.
As a result, there has been a notable shift in the relationship between Trump and Fox. Many media observers have cited Murdoch’s decision to fly to the RNC — a highly unusual move for the mogul — as a telling sign of the shifting balance of power.
“There's no question if you look at who has the greater influence right now — it would be Trump over Fox,” Whittaker said. “So I think from Fox's perspective, the question is how do they transform themselves?”
Fox is under further pressure after paying a staggering $788 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, which accused the network of knowingly broadcasting false claims that the company’s technology was used to rig Joe Biden’s 2020 election.
Fox still faces a $2.7 billion lawsuit filed by Smartmatic, another company that develops voting technology.
Some of Fox's most controversial hosts, including Tucker Carlson, have been fired in the wake of the scandal. Still, analysts say the channel must tread carefully to avoid future crippling claims.
Enders says Fox needs a “figurehead” to rail against, but warns the network needs to be “very careful.” She adds: “I think we're going to see a lot more caution around blanket claims that the election is being undermined and stolen.”
A Fox News insider denied that the network was more cautious in its reporting, insisting the Dominion affair was “over and done with.”
Still, an influx of dispossessed British politicians could provide fresh new voices for Murdoch's channel at a time when the tycoon is fighting to retain his influence. And while Truss' transition from discredited British politician to American talking head may have caused a stir, it's unlikely to be the last.
“I think you're going to continue to see a stream of politicians coming through,” Whittaker says. “But they're going to be politicians of a certain type who have a certain worldview … It's not going to be someone from the mainstream.”
