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.