Suella Braverman has criticised Liz Truss’s “tumultuous” premiership as she quit as home secretary, further imperilling the embattled Prime Minister’s grip on power.
The popular figure among the Tory right said she had made a “technical infringement” of the rules by sending an official document from a personal email and was now taking responsibility.
“I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign,” she wrote in a barely coded dig at the Prime Minister whose disastrous mini-budget sparked financial turmoil.
Farcical scenes erupted in the House of Commons as the Government appeared to U-turn on a threat to strip the whip from Conservative MPs if they backed a fracking ban after a series of Tory MPs signalled they would not take part in the vote.
Allegations of bullying were also levelled against Government whips, with Labour former minister Chris Bryant saying some MPs had been “physically manhandled into another lobby and being bullied”.
Conservative deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker had issued a “100% hard” three-line whip, meaning any Tory MP that rebelled could be thrown out of the parliamentary party, but climate minister Graham Stuart caused confusion by telling the Commons minutes before the vote that “quite clearly this is not a confidence vote”.
According to unverified reports, Chief Whip Wendy Morton and Mr Whittaker have quit amid the chaos.
Labour’s fracking ban motion was defeated by 230 votes to 326, majority 96, with the division list showing 40 Conservative MPs did not take part in the fracking vote.
In her resignation letter, Ms Braverman 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.
“It is obvious to everyone that we are going through a tumultuous time.”
Grant Shapps, a backer of Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership race and a critic of Ms Truss’s subsequently abandoned plan to abolish the top rate of income tax, replaced Ms Braverman as Home Secretary.
The former transport secretary spent the Conservative Party conference earlier this month warning that Tory MPs would not “sit on their hands” in ousting Ms Truss without improvement.
Speaking to reporters outside the Home Office, he acknowledged a “turbulent time” but said he is looking forward to getting on with the job “regardless of what’s happening otherwise in Westminster”.
Ms Braverman, a former contender for the Tory leadership, also said she has “concerns about the direction of this Government”, warning that ministers have “broken key pledges” to voters.
She also raised “serious concerns” about the Government’s manifesto commitments including stopping unauthorised migration and reducing migration numbers.
In a brief response, Ms Truss said: “It is important that the ministerial code is upheld and that Cabinet confidentiality is respected.”
The resignation came as the Prime Minister is facing threats from multiple fronts:f
– A sixth Conservative MP publicly called for her resignation when William Wragg said he was “personally ashamed” of telling his constituents to back the Tories.
– There is speculation a tranche of Tories have sent letters to the chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers Sir Graham Brady demanding a no confidence vote.
Ms Braverman, a former attorney general, admitted sending an “official document from my personal email” to a parliamentary colleague.
She acknowledged that constituted a “technical infringement of the rules”, but made clear of a major rift with Ms Truss in her resignation letter.
Her exit comes just five days after Ms Truss sacked Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor, meaning she has lost two people from the four great offices of state within her first six weeks in office.
Ms Braverman was only appointed to replace Priti Patel in the role on September 6 and her exit after just 43 full days makes her the shortest-serving home secretary in modern political history.
Her tenure was controversial, having accused Tory critics who successfully forced Ms Truss into U-turning over the top rate of income tax plans of a “coup”.
Earlier in the day, Ms Truss insisted she was a “fighter, not a quitter” as more Tory MPs heaped pressure on her to resign.
She made a public apology in the Commons as she faced Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time since her economic plan was ditched by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
On Monday, Mr Hunt reversed almost all the tax cuts announced by predecessor Mr Kwarteng as he sought to calm financial markets following weeks of turbulence.
The Prime Minister told MPs: “I have been very clear that I am sorry and that I have made mistakes.”
But she added: “The right thing to do in those circumstances is to make changes, which I have made, and to get on with the job and deliver for the British people.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer mocked Ms Truss, saying: “What’s the point of a Prime Minister whose promises don’t even last a week?”
He added of a book which is being written about her: “Apparently it’s going to be out by Christmas. Is that the release date or the title?”
In other developments, Ms Truss:
– Committed to the triple-lock on pensions, meaning the state pension will increase in line with the 10.1% inflation figure from April, after being threatened with a backbench revolt.
– Declined to give the same guarantee to link increases in benefits to inflation.
– Insisted she backed social care reform following a Times report that plans for a cap on costs was being delayed for a year.
Her own MPs posed some of the most challenging questions on issues including fracking, social care, international aid spending and the benefits increase, in a sign that there was little appetite to rally round the beleaguered leader.
But former Cabinet minister Sajid Javid – the subject of a hostile briefing from a No 10 source who described him as “shit” – did not ask a question, despite being listed to do so.
One of the Prime Minister’s senior aides, Jason Stein, has reportedly been suspended pending an investigation by the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team into the briefing against Mr Javid.
Asked about the report, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “I am not going to get into individual staffing matters but the Prime Minister has made very clear to her team that some of the sort of briefings that we have seen are completely unacceptable about parliamentary colleagues and they must stop.”
Ms Truss is attempting to build bridges with Tory MPs, including through “fairly regular” events for backbenchers, No 10 said.
But there is speculation that the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady had already received more than 54 letters calling for a confidence vote in the PM, the threshold for triggering one if Ms Truss was not in the 12 months’ grace period for new leaders.
“I wouldn’t get into private conversations,” the Prime Minister’s press secretary said.
“That’s the first I’ve heard.”
Mr Wragg told the Commons he has submitted a letter to Sir Graham.
Mr Wragg, vice chairman of the 1922 Committee, told MPs: “What occurred with that financial statement, I am personally ashamed because I cannot go and face my constituents, look them in the eye and say that they should support our great party, and the polls would seem to bear that out.”
