Politics LIVE: Liz Truss resigns as Prime Minister triggering leadership contest
Liz Truss has stood down and a leadership election will be triggered – with a new PM to be in power next week.
She is set to become the shortest serving Prime Minister in history after she battled an open revolt from Conservatives demanding her departure.
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Hide AdSpeaking from a lectern in Downing Street, Ms Truss said she had told the King she was resigning as the leader of the Conservative Party as she recognised she “cannot deliver the mandate” which Tory members gave her little over six weeks ago.
She held talks with the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives Sir Graham Brady and agreed to a fresh leadership election “to be completed within the next week”.
We’ll bring you live updates following a day of crisis for the government in Westminster in our live blog throughout the day.
Politics LIVE: Liz Truss resigns as Prime Minister triggering leadership contest
Good morning, welcome to our live blog following an eventful day yesterday at Westminster
Liz Truss’s premiership is under renewed pressure after a day of disarray, capped off by a chaotic vote on fracking
We’ll bring you live updates throughout the day.
Labour former minister Chris Bryant, who said some MPs had been “physically manhandled” on Wednesday, said he saw up to 20 MPs all “surrounding a couple of Conservative MPs who were wavering as to how they should vote”.
Mr Bryant told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It was very aggressive, very angry, there was a lot of shouting, there was a lot of pointing, gesticulating, there was at least one hand on another MP, and to me that was clear bullying, intimidation.”
He added: “I saw a whole swathe of MPs effectively pushing one member straight through the door and I’ve seen photographic evidence of one MP’s hand on another.”
Mr Bryant said other Labour and Conservative MPs have said to him that it was “clearly manhandling”.
Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the chief whip did not resign after last night’s Commons vote, to her knowledge.
Asked if Wendy Morton quit on Wednesday evening, she said: “Not that I’m aware of, no.”
Pressed on whether Ms Morton resigned at any time and then was convinced to return to her post, Ms Trevelyan told Sky News: “So, I wasn’t there. I voted early in the lobbies and then had important security issues to deal with at the Department (for) Transport.
“So I didn’t follow the machinations in detail. I’m afraid I was busy doing my job. But as is clear, they are both in post and that’s good news.”
Already this morning we are getting mixed messages over whether the vote last night was a confidence motion or not with the transport secretary’s appearances on the morning broadcast round not really clarifying things...
Anne Marie-Trevelyan said the vote on fracking was not a confidence motion.
Asked if it was a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister, the Transport Secretary told Sky News: “No, yesterday was an opposition day debate and the Labour Party were trying to use a parliamentary tool to try and hijack the order paper. That is never acceptable.
“So what it was, was a very important vote to ensure that the Government did not allow Labour to do that.
“It’s a tactic that has been used in the past, and previous governments have also always made sure that those votes are not won by the Opposition.”
However, last night No 10 later said Graham Stuart had been “mistakenly” told by Downing Street to say the vote should not be treated as a confidence motion, and that Conservative MPs were “fully aware” it was subject to a three-line whip.
Crunch days for the government
Conservative MP Simon Hoare said Thursday and Friday are “crunch days” for the Government.
Asked if Liz Truss is “up to the job”, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think she could be. I think it’s… one can’t say hand on heart today that there is a… if this was a career review, an employer sitting in front of a person looking at performance and outcomes etc, then the score sheet isn’t looking very good.
“But I’m a glass half full sort of person. Can the ship be turned around? Yes. But I think there’s about 12 hours to do it.
“I think today and tomorrow are crunch days. I have never known – OK, I’ve only been an MP for seven years – but a growing sense of pessimism in all wings of the Tory party.
“Usually it’s one or the other, but to have it across the party should be ringing alarm bells in both Number 10 and Number 11.”
Conservative MP Crispin Blunt said Liz Truss’s position is “wholly untenable”.
Asked how he would describe her position on Thursday morning, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Wholly untenable. And if she doesn’t understand that then I would be astonished.
“But one of the qualities she has shown is a lack of self-knowledge to this whole process, because it ought to have been clear that she did not have the capacity to lead our party and I don’t think she should have put herself up for the leadership in the first place.
“All of that has now been confirmed. It’s plain what is required. We need to affect a change, frankly, today, in order to stop this shambles and give our country the governance it needs under our constitution.”
He said there is an “obvious” choice for who should be the next prime minister – Jeremy Hunt or Rishi Sunak.
Lord Ed Vaizey said “the only way out of this mess” is for Liz Truss to stand down and for somebody to be appointed as prime minister by Conservative MPs.
“That is still fraught with problems,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.”
He said it is clear from Suella Braverman’s resignation letter that she regards herself as a credible candidate to be prime minister.
“And in terms of kind of shocking self-belief there will be at least five or six people out there who genuinely believe they could be the next prime minister.
“So if the Tory Party cannot have a degree of self-knowledge and realise that the only way forward is to appoint someone they’re pretty much sunk,” he said.
Tory MP Gary Streeter said the party must ditch Liz Truss.
He is the 7th Tory MP to publically call for Truss to go.
Cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan called for “mutual support” in the Conservative Party.
Asked if Liz Truss will still be in charge on Friday, she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Yes, she will.”
Put to her that a seventh Tory MP, Gary Streeter, has said the party should ditch the Prime Minister, Ms Trevelyan said: “Just a bit of mutual support is what’s needed.”
She added that she is “very proud” to be the Transport Secretary in this Government.
Conservative Party chairman Jake Berry has arrived in Downing Street.
He was driven straight to the door of No 10 and did not turn to face the cluster of press as he went inside.
A look at the markets...
The pound slid lower on Thursday morning as shaken City traders digested the growing political turmoil.
Sterling declined by 0.27% to 1.119 against the US dollar – its lowest reading this week – as it lost the gains it briefly made earlier.
Meanwhile, yields on UK Government bonds (gilts) moved marginally higher, reflecting an increase in the cost of state borrowing.
The yield on UK 10-year bonds was up 0.018 percentage points at 3.89%.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has been granted a Commons urgent question on the departure of Suella Braverman.
The question will take place at around 10.30am.
The House of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle has launched an investigation into reports of misconduct in voting lobbies last night.
Hoyle said he had asked the Sergeant at Arms and other officials to “investigate the incident and report back to me”.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told the Commons: “I wish to say something about the reports of behaviour in the division lobbies last night.
“I have asked the Serjeant at Arms and other senior officials to investigate the incident and report back to me. I will then update the House.
“I remind Members that the behaviour code applies to them as well as to other members of our parliamentary community, and this gives me another opportunity to talk about the kind of House I want to see and I believe that the vast majority of MPs also want to see.
“I want this to be a House in which we, while we might have very strong political disagreements, treat each other courteously and with respect, and we should show the same courtesy and respect to those who work with and for us.
“To that end I will be meeting with senior party representatives to seek an agreed position that behaviour like that described last night is not acceptable in all circumstances.”