Liz Truss premiership hanging by a thread after bruising day in Westminster
Liz Truss’s premiership is hanging by a thread after an extraordinary day in Westminster that saw a cabinet minister resign and a Commons motion descend into chaos with allegations of “manhandling and bullying”.
The unprecedented events have led to some Tory MPs declaring the Conservative party is “finished”, with one hitting out at the “talentless people” who backed Ms Truss “for a seat around the cabinet table”.
The prime minister is staring down the barrel after the now former home secretary Suella Braverman resigned over sending an official document from her personal email – and took aim at the PM on the way out.
“I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign,” she wrote in an barely-coded dig at Ms Truss, whose disastrous mini-budget sparked financial turmoil.
Ms Braverman, a popular figure on the Tory right, voiced “concerns about the direction of this government” , accusing it of breaking manifesto pledges and adding: “It is obvious to everyone that we are going through a tumultuous time.”
The departure has further imperilled the embattled PM’s grip on power following the sacking of chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng last Friday and the axing of the majority of the government’s economic policies on Monday by new chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
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A night of turmoil in Westminster
‘Something has to give’
Lord Frost, former Brexit minister, joined calls for Ms Truss to resign, saying “there is no shred of a mandate” for what she is doing.
“As Suella Braverman made so clear this afternoon, the government is implementing neither the programme Liz Truss originally advocated nor the 2019 manifesto,” he wrote in the Telegraph.
“There is no shred of a mandate for this. It’s only happening because the Truss Government messed things up more badly than anyone could have imagined, and enabled a hostile takeover by its opponents. Something has to give.”
Analysis: Liz Truss is clearly no longer in charge, what isn’t clear is who is – if anybody!
Ms Truss’s authority took a further knock on Wednesday amid claims Conservative MPs were being “bullied and manhandled” into voting with the government to oppose a ban on fracking, counter to what their party manifesto said in 2019.
Several MPs described scenes of chaos in the voting lobby, with Labour’s Jess Philips describing a “massive row” and others saying they witnessed Tory whips “screaming” and MPs “crying”.
The drama was sparked after climate minister Graham Stuart told the Commons minutes before the Labour motion that “quite clearly this is not a confidence vote” – despite Conservative deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker earlier issuing a “100% hard” three-line whip, meaning any Tory MP that rebelled could be thrown out of the parliamentary party.
Widespread reporting followed that Chief Whip Wendy Morton, having been undermined, quit her government post as MPs were filing through the voting lobbies, with Mr Whittaker following her out the door.
After hours of confusion over whether they had gone Downing Street said both “remain in post”.
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Labour MP Chris Bryant claims Tory MP Alexander Stafford was ‘physically manhandled’
Cabinet ministers Therese Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg were among a group of senior Tories accused of pressuring colleagues to go into the “no” lobby, with Labour former minister Chris Bryant telling Sky News some MPs had been “physically manhandled into another lobby and being bullied”.
Mr Rees-Mogg, the business secretary, insisted he had seen no evidence of anyone being manhandled while a source close to Ms Coffey, the health secretary and deputy PM, said she has “not manhandled anybody”.
But senior Tory MP Sir Charles Walker said what took place was “inexcusable” and “a pitiful reflection on the Conservative Parliamentary Party”.
‘No way back for Conservative party’
Asked if there was any way back for the Tories he said: “I don’t think so…but I’ve been of that view since two weeks ago.”
Appearing visibly shaken and emotional, he hit out at those in his party who voted for the new prime minister:
“All those people who put Liz Truss in No 10, I hope it was worth it.
“I hope it was worth it for the ministerial red box, I hope it was worth it to sit around the cabinet table.
“Because the damage they have done to our party was extraordinary.”
Speaking to the BBC he added: “I have had enough of talentless people putting their tick in the right box, not because it’s in the national interest but because it’s in their own personal interest to achieve ministerial position.
“I know I speak for hundreds of backbenchers who are worrying for their constituents all the time but are now worrying for their own personal circumstances because there is nothing as ex as an ex-MP.”
‘We are all Charles Walker’
In response, Conservative MP Maria Caulfield said: “Tonight we are all Charles Walker.”
And former minister Johnny Mercer said, alongside an expletive, that Mr Walker had “nailed it”.
The prime minister is likely to face another bruising day on Thursday, when Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will accuse her of “insulting” British workers while pledging his government will repeal any new Conservative legislation restricting the right to strike.
Emboldened by a huge surge in the polls, he will tell the TUC conference: “We will meet their attacks with hope, provide the leadership this country so desperately needs and build a Britain where working people can succeed again, where working people are backed as the people who really create economic growth.
“That’s the Labour choice.”
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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