In a night emblematic of Liz Truss’s chaotic premiership, confusion reigned in parliament as an opposition day motion on the contentious issue of fracking became a confidence vote in her leadership. Labour MPs reported seeing Conservatives being manhandled and “bullied” into the chamber by government whips – who reportedly attempted to resign in the aftermath. The episode highlights the anti-democratic tendencies evident in the Truss government, but also the possible consequences of such an approach within the British system.
The protracted Conservative party leadership contest, which occupied eight weeks of the summer and saw Truss and Rishi Sunak competing for the affections of around 170,000 party members, seemed somewhat detached from reality. The fact that such a small, potentially unrepresentative, cohort of people were able to determine the next prime minister caused many, not least pariah Russian president Vladimir Putin, to denounce the selection process as undemocratic.
