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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello
Beware Sir Graham Brady - he of the thousand-watt smile, holder of the letters of no confidence, bringer of doom to Prime Ministers. Really a man who should be galloping around Westminster on a pale horse.
He entered Number 10 just before midday. An hour and a half later, the Prime Minister came out and announced her resignation.
“I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected,” she said.
Well, thanks for nothing, Liz. At least you gave it a good crack, after all you were in post for…*checks notes*...44 days.
We’ve been told a Conservative leadership election will be completed within a week.
It almost makes you wonder why we sat through months of tedious chatter and hyperbole from a woman who clearly wasn’t fit for the job. But aren’t you glad you know Liz Truss’ thoughts on the culture wars?
Ever the optimist, Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt encouraged her colleagues to: “Keep calm and carry on.”
I’m afraid basic b**** slogans and a jolly hockey sticks attitude won’t help your party now, Penny.
Here in Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham immediately called for a general election. “We can’t go on like this,” he wrote.
It’s hard to argue with him. Who voted for this?
Not long after, Sir Graham ventured outside to speak to reporters, confirming there will be two candidates for the leadership, unless only one comes forward.
Pressed on whose idea it was to truncate the process into one week, he said: “I think it’s a matter on which there is a pretty broad consensus” adding: “It certainly is not the circumstances I would wish to see.”
The long-standing MP for Altrincham and Sale, wields great power as the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers. When Boris Johnson won a confidence vote earlier this year, Sir Graham visited the Prime Minister in Downing Street to tell him the committee's executive was likely to change leadership contest rules to allow MPs to have another stab at removing him. A resignation announcement quickly followed.
After the unmitigated chaos of last night - which you can read a potted version of here - Sir Graham needed to act. His own career was potentially on the line if he did not.
The veteran MP has a habit of giving very little away. Least of all through Twitter - a platform he hasn’t used since June 7 when he shared an upbeat message on the Golborne Link. But even this stoic man looked crestfallen this afternoon. The Tories are badly wounded.
Aside from calling for an election, the Opposition has largely let Conservatives speak for themselves, yesterday sharing Sir Charles Walker’s BBC interview in which he lamented the state of his party as ‘pitiful’.
One despairing MP told The Mirror’s Dan Bloom the drama was of Shakespearean proportions last night.
“People will look at whether she can turn things around, and they will look at whether they can win with her as prime minister. If they cant, and she can’t, it gets to the Lady Macbeth territory - If it were done… then 'twere well it were done quickly,” they said.
For the TV reporters standing outside Number 10, there has barely been time to catch a breath.
ITV’s Paul Brand this morning reported that one member of the 1922 executive said odds were against Truss ‘surviving the day as PM’. A prediction that came true.
But Robert Peston tweeted about a ‘collective will’ among Tory MPs to keep the PM in office until Halloween so that the Chancellor can determine the medium term fiscal plan. What will happen now remains to be seen.
Political commentators have delighted in using the word ‘unprecedented’ over the last 24 hours. The atmosphere is febrile, they have told us.
It’s certainly felt pretty febrile here in the north as people struggle to make ends meet while reading reports of fisticuffs in the Commons.
It was said that some Tory MPs went to bed last night in tears. I’m sure the shame and frustration linked to this chaotic government must be unbearable for some.
Of course going to bed in tears is nothing new for the constituents of many of these Tories. Far beyond the machinations of government, their primary concern is how to heat their homes, put food on the table and clothe their children.
Just last week, dad Anthony Warburton broke down in tears on the streets of Oldham as he told our reporter he has ‘no money in the bank’ while out walking his baby boy.
“I have nothing in the cupboard, nothing in the fridge. All my money is just for him,” he said.
In Bolton, Angela Speak has spent nights by candlelight because she can’t afford the electricity.
They’re even feeling the pinch in Hale Barnes - the supposedly affluent suburb where footballers spend their millions on luxury homes. But on The Mount estate, Julie Aston - who suffers with arthritis and looks after five kids - is so stressed about money she’s had to visit her GP.
They are just three examples of desperate people already struggling with a cost of living crisis, compounded by a war in Europe, yes, but caused largely by government mismanagement.
I can’t imagine that those at the sharp end of the crisis - visiting foodbanks, warm banks and surviving on kettle boxes - have the time or the inclination to worry about which knighted MP will be fiddling about with letters and delivering the bad news to a PM voted in by a few thousand people.
Yesterday we discovered that inflation is still north of 10%, the worst for 40 years, while food inflation is at 14%. In Wigan that means workers were, on average, £122 a month poorer in July of this year than last year. In Manchester they were £123 worse off.
Tory MPs may cry tears of humiliation and shame. For their constituents, the tears are nothing new.
Consequences
Britain has warned ‘diplomatic consequences will follow’ if China does not waive immunity for any officials charged with assaulting a protester at the Chinese consulate in Manchester.
The Government's handling of the fall-out following violence during a protest outside the consulate has been a 'complete mess', MPs were told today.
Greater Manchester Police is in the midst of a 'complex and sensitive' investigation they have warned 'will take time'. No arrests have been made.
The inquiry was launched after 'a small group of men came out of the building and a man was dragged into the consulate grounds and assaulted', GMP said.
The protestor - Bob Chan - told a press conference organised by MPs he was 'shocked' the incident took place on British soil and denied claims that he tried to enter the grounds of the consulate on Denison Road, in Rusholme, on Sunday.
Video footage of the violence was shared on social media and consul-general, Zheng Xiyuan, later shared footage with the Manchester Evening News, claiming two members of his staff were assaulted.
The consulate claimed a 'mob' of protestors 'stormed' its grounds after 'deeply offensive imagery and slogans' they described as 'threatening and insulting' were displayed.
Foreign Office minister Jesse Norman today told the Commons the ‘apparent behaviour of consulate general officials’ was ‘completely unacceptable’. "Let me be clear: if the police determine there are grounds to charge any officials, we would expect the Chinese consulate to waive immunity for those officials. If they do not, then diplomatic consequences will follow,” she said.
But Shadow Foreign Office minister Catherine West claimed the Government’s handling of the matter ‘has been a complete mess’.
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Weather etc
- Friday: Cloudy changing to light rain by lunchtime. 17C.
- Road closures: A57 Snake Pass in both directions closed due to roadworks between A6013 (Ladybower Reservoir) and Hurst Road (Royal Oak Inn) until October 23.
- A6044 Sheepfoot Lane in both directions closed due to roadworks from Meade Hill Road to A576 Middleton Road between 9.30am and 4pm Mondays to Sundays until October 28.
- Trivia question: Which Greater Manchester MP also serves on the 1922 committee?
Manchester headlines
The Lowry Art Gallery has bought the iconic 1953 LS Lowry painting 'Going to the Match' for £6.6 million. The artwork has been on public display since the gallery opened in 2000 but was not owned by the venue. But the Lowry was able to buy the painting, which depicts football fans on their way to Bolton Wanderers' then ground Burnden Park, thanks to funding from the Law Family Charitable Foundation. “We firmly believe that this iconic artwork must remain on public view, so it can continue to be seen by the broadest possible audiences, for free," L owry chief executive, Julia Fawcett OBE, said.
Andy Burnham says Avanti and TransPennine Express customers are being greeted with 'a shrug of the shoulders' when complaining about services, The Guardian reports. “We can’t allow that to happen,” he said, speaking to LBC. “I was a minister and I would have rightly been dragged over the coals if this was the performance of a service that I was responsible for.”
Liam Gallagher has slammed his brother Noel on social media after he reportedly blocked Oasis songs from Liam’s Knebworth 22 documentary. Liam called his brother a 'sad little dwarf' when a fan asked whether the documentary would feature Oasis songs. In a first in a series of tweets Liam said: “No Oasis songs as the angry squirt has blocked them he also blocked the Oasis song for Taylor Hawkins tribute [,] he’s a horrible little man.” Read the saga here.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. We'll be back to a more recognisable version of the newsletter tomorrow - unless of course another Prime Minister resigns in the meantime. You never know.
If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: Hazel Grove MP William Wragg, who is joint vice-chair.
