“LOOK, we'll serve anybody.”
That was the reaction of Monica Rapallini, the owner of the Hippy Chippy in Paisley, when told that former Tory prime minister Liz Truss had named her place as her favourite takeaway.
In her new book, Ten Years to Save the West, Truss named-dropped the chippy on Broomlands Street as she harked back to her school days.
The former prime minister claimed she had visited Glasgow (a place she “loves”) for the COP26 summit in November 2021 – and taken the opportunity to “visit my old stomping ground of Paisley nearby, as well as my favourite chip shop”.
Asked if Truss had been in for a fish supper around that time, Rapallini said: “Look, we'll serve anybody.
“We’re pleased that she enjoyed whatever she bought, you know what I mean, but I don’t remember her coming into the shop, no.
“I remember that [Glasgow hosting COP26]. But no, if she did come in I don’t remember her.”
Rapallini – and her staff – already knew that Truss had named them in her new book after reading it in The National on Wednesday morning.
Asked what her first reaction had been, the Hippy Chippy owner said: “Laughing.”
She went on: “I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing to advertise that a Tory likes my shop – because the Tories aren't very popular in Scotland.”
For Truss, a right-wing Conservative who has recently been fraternising with the further and further-right, a place called the Hippy Chippy might not seem her natural choice.
READ MORE: How the Tory government are extremists – under their own new definition
Asked about the apparent disconnect, Rapallini said Truss had been more left-wing in her younger days, when she was a regular.
“I don't think she was always like that,” Rapallini said.
“I think in her younger days, when she did come from Paisley – she came from Paisley didn’t she – was she not more of a socialist when she was young – or more liberal.”
Truss was a LibDem activist in her school days, campaigning against Margaret Thatcher, nuclear energy, and even the monarchy.
But those principles have long been left behind in favour of hard-right Unionism and an approach to economics that just about tanked the UK financial sector.
Rapallini said that Truss may well remember the Hippy Chippy as it’s been there since 1969, and has customer “loyalty” to thank for its longevity.
Considering Truss didn’t even last 50 days in office, that may well stick in her throat.
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