The British government appears at risk of collapse after home secretary Suella Braverman launched a stinging attack on the prime minister, Liz Truss, after being forced to resign.
Braverman’s resignation letter included a pointed rebuke of Truss. Braverman said she resigned because she sent an official government document to an MP and this was “a technical infringement of the rules”. However, her letter also contained sharp comments about Truss’s leadership, saying: “I have concerns about the direction of this government. Not only have we broken key pledges that were promised to our voters, but I have had serious concerns about this government’s commitment to honouring manifesto commitments …” In a cursory reply, Truss told Braverman: “I accept your resignation and respect the decision you have made.”
Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition, said the Tory party was “imploding” after a day of chaos in Westminster. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the government was “falling apart at the seams”.
Truss appointed a new home secretary, Grant Shapps, on Thursday afternoon, to replace Braverman. Shapps is seen as more of a moderate. He was sacked as transport secretary by Truss after she reportedly told him there was “no room at the inn” for him after she became PM. He backed Truss’s rival, Rishi Sunak, after dropping his own run for the party leadership.
With a tenure of 43 days, Braverman is the shortest-serving home secretary since the Duke of Wellington who lasted just a month in 1834. Her exit comes just days after Kwasi Kwarteng was replaced as chancellor by Jeremy Hunt, anther Conservative moderate.
The chorus of voices demanding Truss resign after a series of policy u-turns and departures from her cabinet is growing. Lord David Frost, who was Boris Johnson’s former Brexit negotiator, has written in the Telegraph calling on Truss to resign. “Truss just can’t stay in office for one very obvious reason: she campaigned against the policies she is now implementing.”
Sir Charles Walker, a veteran Tory backbencher, said on Wednesday night that he expected Truss to resign “very soon”, and that he was “really pleased” at Braverman’s resignation. He told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight: “I expect the prime minister to resign very soon because she’s not up to her job either … I will shed no tears for either of them.” Earlier in the Commons he spoke of his anger at the scenes in Westminster, calling them a “pitiful reflection of the Conservative parliamentary party at every level”.
William Wragg, a Conservative MP, said he has written a letter to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, calling for a vote of no confidence in Truss.
The Conservative chief and deputy chief whip “remain in post”, Downing Street said, after earlier reports suggesting Wendy Morton and Craig Whittaker had quit after chaotic scenes in parliament over a vote on fracking.
Labour’s Chris Bryant said he saw Tory MPs being “physically manhandled” and “bullied” in the voting lobbies during the vote, which the government ultimately won. Bryant told Sky News: “There was a bunch of Conservative members who were completely uncertain about whether they were allowed to vote with the Labour motion because of what had been said in the chamber about whether it’s a free vote or a confidence vote. There was a group – including several cabinet ministers – who were basically shouting at them. At least one member was physically pulled through the door into the voting lobby.”
You can see how the other UK papers reported on the tumultuous day at Westminster here.