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Liz Truss admitted it was OK for her to change her mind on Brexit - but refused to believe other people had - in one of the finest on-air radio meltdowns of our generation.

The newly minted Trade Secretary appeared on Eddie Mair's LBC Radio programme in March, while she was a Treasury minister and appeared entirely unprepared for his probing questions.

First she appeared unable to admit that she has not personally been affected by her party's brutal programme of cuts.

She appeared to laugh at the absurdity that she might have felt the pinch a bit while she helped ram through austerity measures.

Mair then pointed out today's growth figures are more or less the same as they were in 2009.

He asked her why the Conservatives had consistently blamed the economic downturn of the late 00s on Labour - and yet the current sluggish growth is the result of a "global slowdown".

Finally, Mair took Truss to task over her firm opposition to a second Brexit referendum - despite having herself changed her mind from Remain to Leave.

Here's the exchange in full.

Eddie Mair: Have you personally been affected by austerity?

Liz Truss: I think the whole country has...

EM: My question is about you.

LT: It's not about me, it's about the whole country...

EM: My question is about you. How have you been affected. Have you been adversely affected?

LT: Well, I, er. What I would say is that we (laughs) have had a period where...

EM: I don't know why it's funny. A lot of people have had a terrible time with austerity.

LT: Eddie, I am not laughing, I am just questioning your question, because this is...

EM: Well, you leave the questions up to me. What's the answer to mine?

LT: My answer is that all of us have been affected by the difficult decisions that had to be made. But what we have done is we've limited those difficult decisions. We've made sure that we target money on those on the lowest incomes.

EM: It would be OK, wouldn't it, to say you haven't been affected?

LT: Well, I don't...I don't think it's a good question. I don't know what it means.

EM: Well, I won't comment on your answer. Let me ask you a different question.

...

EM: If you're interested in talking about 2008, let's look at what the Chancellor talked about today. Growth, the forecast for growth, the independent forecast for growth that the Government relies on, is as good as it's been...as good as it was in 2009. So you complain about the record of the last Government, and your growth, this year, will be at 2009 levels.

LT: I mean, we are facing various issues. We're facing a global slowdown.

EM: Well, I think we can hear that. So the slowdown - well it was more than a slowdown - in 2008, that was Labour's fault, but this slowdown is global. What do you think about having another EU referendum?

LT: A very, very, very bad idea.

EM: But people can change their minds, can't they?

LT: But they were told in the referendum in 2016, that their vote would be implemented, and the reality is the vote needs to be implemented. You can't..if you don't like the answer, you can't just...

EM: What about people who have changed their minds between then and now?

LT: I don't think people have changed their minds...

EM: You have.

LT: (Pause) I have. That's true.

EM: Right.

LT: In the other way though, Eddie.

EM: Oh, I see.

LT: But certainly the people I speak to, many of whom voted remain, say please Liz, just get on with this. They don't want another year or more of limbo asking the same question again. They just want us to deliver it.

EM: So people can change their minds, but only if they go from Remain to Leave.