The political turmoil in Westminster reached a new nadir on Wednesday, with a day of chaos that saw the resignation of Home Secretary Suella Braverman and a contentious vote on fracking. Observers described the events as the most chaotic and baffling of their political lives, leaving Prime Minister Liz Truss still theoretically in charge by evening.
The day began with Braverman accompanying a National Crime Agency arrest in Oxfordshire, but her downfall was reportedly seeded the previous night during a fiery 90-minute meeting with Truss and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. By afternoon, she had forwarded a draft immigration statement to a backbench MP, a move that would prove consequential.
Labour secured a vote that could allow them to seize control of the parliamentary timetable to stop the government lifting a moratorium on fracking. Deputy Chief Whip Craig Whittaker informed MPs that the vote was a confidence motion, warning that defiance would lead to loss of the party whip. The situation escalated, with reports of former Chancellor Sajid Javid giving an ultimatum to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case over a briefing that Truss viewed him as “shit”.
The day's events were described not as a coup but as a disintegration, with no clear leadership emerging. The government's refusal to confirm the triple lock on pensions added to the sense of disarray, as Foreign Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan initially told the BBC that speculation could distort markets.
