Home Secretary Suella Braverman quits: Liz Truss's government is so shambolic it could pose threat to national security – Scotsman comment

The ‘resignation’ of Suella Braverman as Home Secretary is the final straw. The Conservative Party has now entirely lost the authority to govern. Only a general election can restore proper government.

Liz Truss’s inability to lead has created a dysfunctional government that has already damaged the economy and questions must now be asked about whether the current chaos poses a serious threat to national security.

As Vladimir Putin continues to wage war in Europe and threatens to use nuclear weapons, the UK Government now finds itself stumbling from one self-inflicted crisis to another, consumed by its own incompetence and riven by deep splits within the Conservative party.

Amid suggestions she was actually sacked, Braverman's resignation letter explained that she was going, after just 43 days in office, because she had sent an official document from her personal email to a parliamentary colleague in what she called “a technical infringement of the rules”. She then launched a withering attack on the government.

“As Home Secretary I hold myself to the highest standards and my resignation is the right thing to do,” she wrote. “The business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes. Pretending we haven't made mistakes, carrying on as if everyone can't see that we have made them, and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics. I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign.”

Braverman also voiced her concern that manifesto commitments to reduce “overall migration numbers and [stop] illegal migration” might not be honoured. Her letter prompted immediate speculation that she hopes to replace Truss as Prime Minister.

The Truss government has already made the UK an international laughing stock, but this latest example of just how divided the Conservatives have become suggests they are losing the ability – having lost the authority – to govern. The Prime Minister’s resignation would not change that. It might even make the party's internal relations more fractious.

Pragmatic, sensible Conservatives – of the calibre of Rory Stewart, thrown out of the party by Boris Johnson – must be aghast. If any of their number are still MPs, they must do their utmost to put an end to this farce, and pull their own house down. If they do not, this can only get worse.