‘The game is up’: Three Tory MPs publicly call for Liz Truss to go as pressure mounts on PM

Published

2 years ago

October 16, 2022

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Conservative MPs have started to publicly call for Liz Truss to go as they do not believe she can survive the current political and economic crisis.

Crispin Blunt, former chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, was the first Tory MP to put his head above the parapet since Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked as chancellor on Friday.

He said “the game is up” for Ms Truss after just six weeks as prime minister as he does not believe she can survive the current crisis, which has seen weeks of economic turmoil after the mini-budget.

“I think the game is up and it’s now a question as to how the succession is managed,” he told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show.

He later told Sky News it was “blindingly obvious” that Ms Truss had to go.

“The principle emotions of people watching her, doing her best to present, is some combination of pity, contempt or anger,” he said.

“I’m afraid it just won’t wash and we need to make a change.”

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen also called for Ms Truss to quit as PM, telling the Telegraph that his party “cannot carry on like this” and adding: “Our country, its people and our party deserve better.”

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Jamie Wallis tweeted: “In recent weeks, I have watched as the government has undermined Britain’s economic credibility and fractured our party irreparably. Enough is enough.

“I have written to the prime minister to ask her to stand down as she no longer holds the confidence of this country.”

Asked how the party will get rid of her, Mr Blunt, who is standing down at the next election, said: “If there is such a weight of opinion in the parliamentary party that we have to have a change, then it will be effected.

“Exactly how it is done and exactly under what mechanism… but it will happen.”

Under current Conservative Party rules, a confidence vote in a leader cannot take place until they have been in power for at least a year, so she is theoretically safe until next September.

However, there has been talk among MPs of the powerful 1922 backbench committee of Tory MPs of changing the rules to reduce that buffer period.

If enough MPs submit no confidence letters in the PM, then the 1922 executive may have little choice but to change them.

The committee’s treasurer, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, told Sky News the rules would only be changed if “an overwhelming majority of the party wish us to do that”.

If the committee was satisfied the conditions had been met “then they would agree to change the rules”, he said.

He added, however: “I think we’re a long way off that at the moment.”

Truss ‘unlikely to be in No 10 at Christmas’

Andrew Mitchell, who ran new chancellor Jeremy Hunt‘s leadership campaign, told the BBC if Ms Truss “cannot do the job, I’m afraid that she will go”.

Former Chancellor George Osborne said Ms Truss is unlikely to still be in Downing Street by Christmas.

He called her a “PINO – prime minister in name only” and said Ms Truss is “hiding in Number 10” as pressure mounts.

Asked if she can survive, he told the Andrew Neil Show: “Probably not.”

And Mark Garnier, Conservative MP for Wyre Forest, today questioned Ms Truss’s position but stayed clear of outright calling for her to go.

He said those who agree with her appointing Mr Hunt as chancellor are split into two camps – those who believe MPs should give Ms Truss time, and those who want to “rip the plaster off”.

“I think power is a very fickle thing, and I think Liz Truss is in office but is not in power,” he told BBC Politics Midlands.

“The question is, do we give her a chance or do we rip the plaster off?

“The really important question is do we feel confident that we should be going into the next general election with Liz Truss? If we don’t, I think we need to rip the plaster off.”

Party needs a fundamental reset

Alicia Kearns, the new chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said the party needed a “fundamental reset” but said it was difficult to know if Ms Truss should go.

“Ultimately it is a very difficult one because I think you know we’ve had the questions around our moral competency,” she told Times Radio.

“We’ve now got questions around our fiscal competency.

“I don’t want further questions around even our ability to continue to govern as a party and our ability to stay united. It’s an incredibly difficult one, and ultimately I need to listen to colleagues and speak to colleagues over coming days.

“But do we need a fundamental reset? Without question.”

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Tory grandee and pollster Lord Hayward told Sky News it is going to be “very difficult” for Ms Truss to remain as PM after the past few weeks and a new chancellor after just 38 days.

On Sunday morning, both Mr Hunt and Andrew Griffith, financial secretary to the Treasury, said they think Ms Truss will remain as they showed their loyalty to the PM.

To register your interest and share your story, please email TheGreatDebate@sky.uk

UK

Gatwick Airport: Police release two people who were detained amid security incident as South Terminal reopens

Published

2 hours ago

November 23, 2024

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Gatwick Airport: Police release two people who were detained amid security incident as South Terminal reopens

Two people detained during a security incident at Gatwick Airport have been allowed to continue their journeys after a suspect package saw a “large part” of the South Terminal evacuated.

The terminal was closed for hours after the discovery of a “suspected prohibited item” in a passenger’s luggage sparked an emergency response. It reopened at around 3.45pm.

Officers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team “made the package safe” before handing the airport back to its operator, Sussex Police said.

Their statement continued: “Two people who were detained while enquiries were ongoing have subsequently been allowed to continue their journeys.

“There will remain an increased police presence in the area to assist with passengers accessing the South Terminal for onward travel.”

The force also thanked the public and airport staff for their patience while the incident was ongoing.

Earlier the airport, which is the UK’s second busiest, said the terminal was evacuated after a “security incident”.

“The earlier security alert has now been resolved and cleared by police,” it later said in a statement on Friday afternoon.

“The South Terminal is reopening to staff and will be open to passengers shortly.”

Gatwick said some flights were cancelled while others were delayed.

It said passengers should contact their airlines for any updates on flights.

Footage on social media taken outside the airport showed crowds of travellers heading away from the terminal building.

“Arrived at London Gatwick for routine connection. Got through customs to find out they’re evacuating the entire airport,” one passenger said.

“Even people through security are being taken outside. Trains shut down,” another passenger added, who said “thousands” of people were forced to leave.

Another passenger said people near the gates were being told to stay there and not go back to the departure lounge.

People outside the airport were handed blankets and water, passengers told Sky News.

The airport said its North Terminal was still operating normally.

Gatwick Express said its trains did not call at Gatwick Airport during the police response, but the airport said trains would start calling there again once the terminal was fully reopened.

More than 600 flights were due to take off or land at Gatwick on Friday, amounting to more than 121,000 passenger seats, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

UK

Starmer says UK will ‘set out a path’ to raise defence spending to 2.5%

Published

5 hours ago

November 23, 2024

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Starmer says UK will 'set out a path' to raise defence spending to 2.5%

The UK will “set out a path” to lift defence spending to 2.5% of national income in the spring, the prime minister has said, finally offering a timeframe for an announcement on the long-awaited hike after mounting criticism.

Sir Keir Starmer gave the date during a phone call with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, in the wake of threats by Moscow to target UK and US military facilities following a decision by London and Washington to let Ukraine fire their missiles inside Russia.

There was no clarity though on when the 2.5% level will be achieved. The UK says it currently spends around 2.3% of GDP on defence.

Ukraine war latest: Follow live updates

A spokeswoman for Downing Street said that the two men “began by discussing the situation in Ukraine and reiterated the importance of putting the country in the strongest possible position going into the winter”.

They also talked about the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers to fight alongside Russia.

“The prime minister underscored the need for all NATO countries to step up in support of our collective defence and updated on the government’s progress on the strategic defence review,” the spokeswoman said.

“His government would set out the path to 2.5% in the spring.”

The defence review will also be published in the spring.

While a date for an announcement on 2.5% will be welcomed by the Ministry of Defence, analysts have long warned that such an increase is still well below the amount that is needed to rebuild the armed forces after decades of decline to meet growing global threats from Russia, an increasingly assertive China, North Korea and Iran.

They say the UK needs to be aiming to hit at least 3% – probably higher.

With Donald Trump returning to the White House, there will be significantly more pressure on the UK and other European NATO allies to accelerate increases in defence spending.