Good morning. A couple of weeks ago, to widespread condemnation, Suella Braverman accused backbench Tory MPs of staging a coup against the prime minister; if that’s the case, the ex-home secretary has now become its latest victim.
But the truth is that the mind-bending events of Wednesday in Westminster can’t really be classified as a coup. They were abrupt, unsanctioned, and by evening allegedly featured the use of force, yes. But coups are organised. Coups involve government control of the media. And they have this to be said for them: when they end, somebody, however incompetent, is in charge. This wasn’t a coup: it was a disintegration.
I don’t claim the powers of political analysis required to fully unpack the consequences of a day many wizened observers described as the most chaotic and baffling of their political lives, or how it is that Liz Truss was still theoretically prime minister at the end of it. The live blog is up and running, and will cover transport secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan’s morning media round; today’s newsletter will stick to how yesterday unfolded, blow by excruciating blow. Here are the headlines.
Five big stories
NHS | At least 45 newborn babies died because of repeated failings in maternity care at a major NHS trust, a damning report has found. Dr Bill Kirkup, who led the inquiry, said it exposed “embedded, deep-rooted problems” in two East Kent hospitals.
Ukraine | Vladimir Putin has declared martial law in four annexed regions of Ukraine after Russian officials claimed that a Ukrainian counteroffensive on Kherson was imminent.
Cost of living | For the second time this year, inflation has risen above 10%, according to the ONS. Soaring prices for food and drink were the biggest driver, with an annual rise of almost 15%.
Iran | The competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi has received a hero’s welcome on her return to Tehran after competing in South Korea without wearing a headscarf as required of female athletes from the Islamic Republic. Rekabi left the airport in a van heading for an unknown destination.
Protest | A pro-democracy protester who appeared to be beaten up by men from China’s consulate in Manchester has condemned the attack as “barbaric” and backed calls for the UK government to expel any Chinese officials involved. The group believed to have attacked Bob Chan included a veteran Chinese Communist party official, Zheng Xiyuan.
In depth: ‘Like a zoo of hungry wild animals’
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Dawn Braverman on patrol
It’s just another day in Suella Braverman’s serene reign as home secretary, and she begins with the sort of thing she’s normally only dreaming about before the sun comes up: a trip to Oxfordshire with the National Crime Agency to arrest a 31-year-old Albanian woman, believed responsible for bringing migrants across the Channel in small boats. While she may view this as Kryptonite to the “Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati” of her florid description on Tuesday, the seeds of her downfall have reportedly already been sown: on Tuesday night, she held a “fiery” 90-minute meeting with Liz Truss and Jeremy Hunt.
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8.19am James Cleverly defends the government
Asked to explain why the government is refusing to confirm that the triple lock protection of pensions remains in place despite Truss’s previous assurances, the foreign secretary tells the BBC that “when we have a fiscal statement … we don’t speculate as to what might be in it” because doing so “might distort markets”. This position lasts until shortly after midday.
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Morning? Braverman sends an email
At some point before 4pm, the home secretary forwards a draft statement on immigration to a backbench MP. This will become important.
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10.57am Government makes fracking vote a confidence motion
Labour has secured an evening vote which could allow the opposition to seize control of the parliamentary timetable and force a further vote to stop the government lifting a moratorium on fracking. Shortly before 11am, Sky’s Beth Rigby reports that deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker has informed MPs that “this is a confidence motion in the government” and they must oppose the motion whatever their beliefs – or see the prime minister forced to resign if the government loses. If they defy the instruction, they will lose the party whip. This will also become important.
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Before PMQs Javid talks to cabinet secretary
According to ITV’s Robert Peston, former Chancellor Sajid Javid, reportedly livid over a briefing to the Sunday Times (£) that Truss views him as “shit”, gives cabinet secretary Simon Case an ultimatum: he wants the person behind the briefing suspended and investigated. If not, he will use the question he has been granted to the prime minister to raise the matter in parliament.
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Midday Prime Minister’s Questions
Sajid Javid does not ask a question. Truss repeats her apology for her handling of the economy and says “I have made mistakes”. She announces that the triple lock on pensions will be protected, adopting what the foreign secretary said would be a market-distorting position four hours earlier. Some observers conclude that she has survived, beaten expectations, and this is fine.
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12.02pm Adviser suspended
As Javid misses his question, the BBC’s Chris Mason reports that senior No 10 adviser Jason Stein has been suspended and will face an investigation over the Sunday Times leak.
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12.33pm Truss visit to a British tech firm announced
Lobby journalists are told by the PM’s spokesman that she will shortly be visiting a company specialising in automotive technology “to hear from the kind of businesses driving UK innovation and growth”.
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1.44pm Truss visit to a British tech firm cancelled
Downing Street tells journalists the visit is off, reports the Guardian’s Aubrey Allegretti. No explanation is given.
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1.55pm Backbencher supports government so he can seek PM’s removal
William Wragg, vice-chair of the 1922 Committee, tells parliament that he will not defy the party whips to vote as he wishes on fracking, because if he did his letter of no confidence “would fall and I wish to maintain that letter”. This is a relatively unusual attempt to resolve the back-me-or-sack-me dilemma by doing both.
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4.20pm Braverman goes
One possible reason for the cancelled visit to a UK company specialising in automotive technology is revealed: the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar breaks the astonishing news that Suella Braverman has been forced to resign as home secretary. Grant Shapps, viewed as a key organiser of the rebel backbenchers, quickly emerges as Braverman’s likely successor. (It would have been Javid “if Saj hadn’t humiliated the PM”, a Downing Street source claims, skipping merrily past the question of why on earth he would want it.) After four Chancellors in four months, there have now been three home secretaries in six weeks.
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4.36pm Praise for tofu pun
To wide acclaim, I tweet that ‘hell hath no fury like a woman quorned’. Quorn isn’t technically tofu, but it does #numbers.
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4.55pm Braverman publishes resignation letter
Less of a resignation, more of a comment. Braverman claims that she is “choosing to tender her resignation” over a “technical infringement of the rules” by sending the draft statement on immigration to a backbencher. She writes that she has “serious concerns about this government’s commitment to honouring manifesto commitments, such as reducing overall migration numbers”.
She says that “the business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes” and unsubtly contrasts herself with Truss by adding: “I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign.” She does not promise to support Truss from the backbenches, a convention of ministerial resignations. Aubrey Allegretti parses the letter here.
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5.04pm Rebels “prepared for consequences”
Chris Skidmore, a leading advocate for a robust net zero policy within the Conservative party, tweets that he will not vote to support fracking despite the whips’ instructions. He says he is “prepared to face the consequences of my decision”. Within ten minutes, two other MPs, Tracey Crouch and Angela Richardson, say they will do the same.
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5.20pm Lettuce update
A pack of tofu is added to the Daily Star’s live cam tracking whether the prime minister will outlast a 60p Tesco lettuce.
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5.31pm Another version of Braverman’s departure emerges
Lobby journalists are briefed that far from a “technical infringement”, Braverman has revealed highly sensitive information with implications for the Office of Budget Responsibility’s review of the forthcoming fiscal plan. It emerges that a second MP was accidentally CC’d. The Daily Telegraph reports that Braverman’s Tuesday night meeting with Truss and Hunt was a “heated face to face row” over her refusal to accept a liberalised migration regime they view as crucial to the OBR’s growth projections.
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5.36pm Hunt speaks to MPs
The Times’ Geri Scott reports that Jeremy Hunt, following Barack Obama, tells members of the 1922 committee: “This would be really interesting shit if I wasn’t in the middle of it”.
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6.01pm Grant Shapps’ appointment is announced
Shapps tells reporters outside the Home Office that “regardless of what is happening elsewhere in Westminster” he is “looking forward to getting stuck into the role”. On Monday, he said that what Truss needs to do to stay as PM “is like threading the eye of a needle with the lights off” and she “has an 80% chance of failure”. Jamie Grierson profiles him here.
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6.27pm ‘There is stability’
Schools minister Jonathan Gullis tells Sky News: “There is stability. Stability in the sense of the fact that we are making sure we have quickly put Grant Shapps in place.” He adds that Truss, who removed all of Rishi Sunak’s supporters from the cabinet when she became prime minister, “has always made clear that she wants a broad church of the Conservative party … in her government.”
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6.51pm Chaos in the House of Commons
Business minister Graham Stuart creates uproar among open-mouthed Tory backbenchers as the fracking debate ends, appearing to contradict the message they received earlier by saying “obviously this is not a confidence vote”. There are howls of derision from his own side as he tells backbencher Ruth Edwards that it is a “matter for party managers” whether she will lose the whip if she rebels, creating the prospect of MPs voting without knowing the consequences. Chief whip Wendy Morton, apparently unaware of the change of plan, can be seen rushing into the chamber as he continues with his speech.
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7pm Backbenchers “manhandled”
Astonishing reports from multiple opposition MPs of what we might call “a little turbulence” in the ‘no’ lobby, including claims that senior Tories “manhandled” reluctant backbenchers to vote. One Tory MP tells the Sun on Sunday’s Kate Ferguson that “it’s like a zoo of hungry wild animals”. The government wins comfortably, by 96 votes.
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7.12pm Chief whip said to have resigned
Reports emerge that Wendy Morton has resigned as chief whip, feeling she had been fatally undermined over the fiasco.
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7.25pm Deputy chief whip’s fury
MPs overhear deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker, who sent them their instructions this morning, come out of the lobby and say: “I am fucking furious and I don’t give a fuck any more.” He is also reported to have resigned.
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7.28pm ‘Bullying’ allegations
Labour MP Chris Bryant raises a point of order, accusing senior Tories of “bullying” backbenchers to vote with the government. He calls for an investigation and provides a photograph (above) of the incident to Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who is said to be taking it “very seriously”. In an interview with Sky News, Bryant elaborates, alleging that Jacob Rees-Mogg and Thérèse Coffey were among the group “physically pulling” an MP through the door into the lobby. Rees-Mogg denies this. He says he is “not entirely clear” whether Wendy Morton is still chief whip.
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7.42pm Recriminations for Truss supporters
Veteran backbencher Sir Charles Walker appears close to tears in a candid interview with the BBC, in which he describes the situation over Braverman and the fracking vote as “a pitiful reflection on the Conservative party at every level”. Is there any coming back from this? “I don’t think so,” he says. “I really shouldn’t say this, but I hope all those people who put Liz Truss in Number 10, I hope it was worth it for the ministerial red box. I hope it was worth it to sit round the cabinet table. Because the damage they have done to our party is extraordinary.” Fellow backbencher Johnny Mercer later retweets it with the comment: “Fuck me, he’s nailed it.”
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8.57pm Truss did not vote
Bloomberg’s Kitty Donaldson reports that after Wendy Morton said “that’s it, I’m resigning” in the ‘no’ lobby, Truss grabbed her arm to try to persuade her otherwise – and, in the chaos, neither voted on the motion MPs had been told was a matter of the prime minister’s survival. The Daily Telegraph reports that Boris Johnson missed the vote because he is in the Caribbean.
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9.21pm Chief whip not going
Downing Street tells reporters that Morton and Whittaker are not resigning. Downing Street later claims the votes were a confidence motion all along, whatever MPs were told, and those who abstained will now face disciplinary action. With cabinet ministers rumoured to be considering a move against her, and some MPs believing more than 100 letters of no confidence have been submitted, many conclude that after a day of spectacular error and recrimination, Truss’s own exit has become an inevitability.
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11.25pm The last word
Veteran backbencher Sir Roger Gale tells PA: “On balance, at the end of today I would say, in a peculiar way – and it is peculiar – Truss might come out of it stronger.” Then he adds: “I may be completely wrong and out of touch.”
What else we’ve been reading
Ingri Bergo and Mathilde Saliou spoke to Mia Landsem, an internet security expert who made it her mission to hunt down and report “revenge porn” after images of her were leaked online by an ex-boyfriend. Landsem takes Bego and Saliou through the dark online world where people trade images, predominantely of women, as if they were “Pokémon cards”. Nimo
Jeremy Hunt has been widely hailed as “a grownup in the room”, Aditya Chakrabortty writes – but what he ultimately represents is the “horrific doom-loop” where a return to the politics of austerity is the best we can hope for. Also, he calls Tory backbenchers “double-breasted, vacant-eyed, permanently post-prandial beetroots”, which is worth the price of entry. Archie
As the US and the wider international community mulls the deployment of a “multinational rapid action force” to Haiti, Pooja Bhatia writes how foreign intervention “kneecaps Haiti’s chances for democracy and legalise official impunity”. Nimo
Little though I know about opera, Colm Tóibín’s piece tracing his path from attending a production of The Pearl Fishers 51 years ago to writing the libretto for an adaptation of his novel about Henry James is worth every word. Archie
In the New Yorker (£), Carrie Battan interviewed actor-director-comedian Ramy Youssef about his show Ramy, filming in Jerusalem, and spirituality on screen. The conversation is frank and nuanced, and left me excited to watch the series. Nimo
Sport
Football | Manchester United beat Tottenham 2-0 at Old Trafford, Southampton camee out on top against Bournemouth 0-1, and Newcastle beat Everton 1-0.
Football | Arsenal stunned defending Women’s Champions League title-holders Lyon with a 5-1 victory away from home in the competition’s group stage. It was the first time Lyon had lost by a four-goal margin since April 2006.
Athletics | Great Scottish Run organisers have apologised to Scottish runner Eilish McColgan after her European and British 10km road record times from earlier this month were invalidated after it was found the course was 150 metres short due to “human error”.
The front pages
The Guardian leads with “Braverman’s bombshell puts Truss on the brink”. The paper reports that the prime minister now risks “the sort of mass exodus of ministers that forced Boris Johnson to quit”.
The Mail splashes with “Suella’s 90-minute shouting match with Liz” after an alleged argument over immigration. The Telegraph says “Braverman exit rocks government on day of chaos at Westminster”. The Mirror leads with “Utter chaos”, while the Sun’s headline simply reads “Broken”. The Times reports that “Truss faces more turmoil after sacking Braverman”, while the Financial Times says “Truss team plunged into chaos by exit of Braverman”.
The Star, meanwhile, goes with “Lettuce Liz is cut to shreds” and claims that the iceberg lettuce it is live streaming is “starting to wilt … but is STILL favourite to outlast Truss”.
Today in Focus
The all-powerful Xi Jinping
The biggest event in China’s political calendar opened this week. The 20th national congress of the Communist party will set the direction that China – soon to be the world’s biggest economy – will take in the years ahead. Emma Graham-Harrison looks at the man at the centre of it all, Xi Jinping.
Cartoon of the day | Martin Rowson
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
With buzzing bees, birdsong and breathtaking views, Sharpham Meadow is a burial grounds in Devon that is nothing like the gothic nature of most cemeteries. It was set up by Rupert Callender (pictured above), who thought funerals were outdated, impersonal and run by big faceless corporations. He decided to offer the kind of funeral that he didn’t attend for his father and grandparents. Callender dedicated his time to putting together an alternative, greener and more intimate option. So what’s the perfect funeral? “People who loved that person talking honestly,” he says.
Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
