Liz Truss’s new memoir includes a false quote misattributed to the founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty about the desire to “control” a nation’s money.
In Ten Years to Save the West, Truss wrote: “If only the words attributed to Mayer Amschel Rothschild of the famous banking family had been heeded: ‘Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.’”
However, there is no evidence that Mayer Rothschild ever said that.
The quote was highlighted by writer Dorian Lynskey, on Twitter/X as an example of the lack of “rigour” applied to Truss’s memoir.
Lynskey wrote: “If you’re curious about the editorial rigour applied to Truss’s book, this quote was dubiously attributed to Rothschild in a 1935 by Gertrude Coogan, a Rothschild-obsessed antisemite who claimed ‘the World is ruled by the International Money Masters.’”
As Lynskey pointed out, one of the first suggestions that Mayer Rothschild was the author of the quote was made in Coogan’s book Money Creators in 1935.
Mayer Rothschild had been dead for more than a century by the time Coogan attributed the quote to him.
In the same book, Coogan also claimed that “the World is ruled by the International Money Masters.”
The passage in Coogan’s tome says: “Meyer [sic] Amschel Rothschild, who founded the great international banking house of Rothschild which, through its affiliation with the European Central Banks, still dominates the financial policies of practically every country in the world, said: ‘Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.’ ”
Antisemitic conspiracy theorists are known to be obsessed with the Rothschild family and often portray them as evil puppet-masters.
The family is often falsely accused of controlling 80 per cent of global wealth.
According to the Grammarphobia blog the earliest mention of the quote can be traced to 1908 and is not attributed to anyone.
Research suggests it is a variation of an English proverb that can be traced back two centuries prior.
The proverb the quote is thought to have derived from is: “Let me make the songs [or ballads] of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.”
The quote has been attributed to Mayer Rothschild at different points in history from 1790 to 1863. Mayer Rothschild died in 1812.
A spokesman for Truss said: “Liz came across the quote and thought it was a useful way of illustrating a point about the Bank of England. Numerous online sources have stated that it was attributed it to Rothschild, so she attributed it thus.”
