Inside 'the Blob': How Bureaucrats Brought Down Britain's Leader

A new documentary from Palladium Pictures and The Wall Street Journal examines how Britain's permanent bureaucracy—nicknamed “The Blob”—played a pivotal role in ending Liz Truss' brief tenure in late 2022 as prime minister.

Through interviews with Truss and other key players, director Michael Pack, a former CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, reveals how unelected technocrats and civil servants—Britain's equivalent of the American deep state—pushed back against her economic reforms, ultimately leading to her resignation after just 44 days in office.

Pack spoke with The Daily Signal about the growing power of Britain's administrative state—and lessons President-elect Donald Trump should glean from the episode as he assumes power in the United States.

"The Blob is a lot stronger than you think," Pack told The Daily Signal. "A lot of people on the Republican side seem to be pretty confident that they'll be able to radically reform the departments and organizations that they're nominated to head. But I think the Liz Truss story suggests 'the Blob' has a lot of power to fight back."

Watch the full documentary: https://youtu.be/c3q9gGhRrjA

This is Pack's second documentary with The Wall Street Journal. His first film of the series, "'Get the Jew': The Crown Heights Riot Revisited," debuted in October. It tells the story of the America's worst antisemitic riot, which took place in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 1991.

"The idea of the series was to cover events or things that happened in the past that were either misreported, ignored, or just sent down the memory hole," Pack explained.

Pack's most notable film, "Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words," tells the remarkable story of the legendary U.S. Supreme Court justice.

With his latest documentary, Pack hopes to educate Americans about the fights facing the incoming Trump administration as it seeks to reform Washington. From his time at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Pack has firsthand experience with America's version of "the Blob."

"In my own little world, I did see what it was like to face the administrative state," Pack said of his seven months as CEO.

"Most of us, myself included, tend to think of the administrative state as an American problem, and the Liz Truss documentary makes clear that it is a problem of the West," he added. "These bureaucrats are the same in London, Paris, New York, D.C. They go to the same colleges, they're taught the same ideas."

Watch the full documentary below. Learn more about Palladium Pictures' incubator fellowship for America's future storytellers: https://palladiumpictures.com/incubator/

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