A Tory MP has demanded that the UK’s embattled Prime Minister Liz Truss resign, not over her car crash handling of the country’s economy, but over alleged Conservative party attacks on “transgender rights”.
Jamie Wallis — who is widely recognised as being the UK’s first transgender member of parliament — has demanded Liz Truss’ resignation over allegations that she did not “challenge” what he alleged was “increased hostility towards transgender people” during the Tory party leadership race.
Despite having only just attained power, Liz Truss is now coming under fire from all sides over her plans to implement tax cuts to grow the UK economy, with all planned tax cuts having since been abandoned by the UK’s newest Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt.
Hunt himself only ascended to his position last week after Liz Truss sacrificed his predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng, in a desperate attempt to hold on to power that has seen the Prime Minister lose significant amounts of control over the UK’s future economic policy.
However, while many remain hell-bent on seeing Truss turfed from power over her handling of economic policy despite her recent losses, such concerns appear to be of little concern to Wallis, who instead insisted that the Prime Minister must resign over her record on “transgender” rights.
In particular, Wallis — who came out as transgender after being caught fleeing the scene of a single-vehicle collision in dress and high heels — said that Truss must now resign over her failure to “challenge” fellow party members when they tackled the issue of transgenderism.
“Watching senior colleagues exploit the issue of transgender rights and weaponise it in order to score cheap political points was extremely unpleasant,” the Conservative Party MP wrote in the letter calling for the Prime Minister’s resignation.
“However, you chose not to challenge this behaviour and have now chosen to have those same colleagues sit alongside you in your government,” he continued.
“Mistakes can be undone, and as one united team I believe we could achieve almost anything. However, whilst you are our leader, I no longer believe this is possible,” he went on to write.
Also cited in Wallis letter is the allegation that Truss chose to appoint political allies to senior positions instead of the party members most qualified for the job, and that the premier has “undermined” confidence in the UK as a trustworthy nation.
While whispers emanating from within the Westminster rumour mill indicate that many Conservative Party MPs are now conspiring to replace the Prime Minister, Wallis himself has now joined a small but growing club of Tory MPs who are now openly calling for Truss’ political head.
The first member of such a group was Crispin Blunt, who declared on Sunday that “the game is up” for the Prime Minister, despite the fact that — at the time of writing — she has spent more time campaigning to be Prime Minister than actually serving in the position.
“It’s now a question as to how the succession is managed,” the MP said. “If there is such a weight of opinion within the parliamentary party that we have to have a change, then it will be effected.”