More chaos from Westminster as the nominally Truss government calls a confidence vote in itself, decides not to make it a confidence vote at the last moment, and then wins it anyway, allegedly amid rowdy scenes in the voting lobbies and alleged resignations of government whips.
While most of the Truss government’s policy platform has been demolished by the new finance minister, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt — the man now widely agreed to be the true power behind the throne, the Prime Minister in all but name — small elements remain. One of those is the dedication to preventing the energy crisis Britain is facing this winter from becoming permanent every winter by increasing the aggregate supply of energy.
One way the government would do this is by legalising fracking, a move deeply unpopular with the left-green opposition, which called a vote tonight to totally outlaw fracking. Normally such a vote would be of no concern for a government with a considerable majority like Truss has, but these are not normal times and the Conservative Party is falling apart at the seams.
Determined to keep the fracking plan in place and party unity from totally failing, Truss made the vote a one of confidence in her own government, a way of forcing her own members of voting in support as a loss would bring the government down and likely trigger a general election.
This was a bold enough move, and indications from the chamber itself suggest the “100% hard” order to fall into line for Conservative MPs was brutally enforced. Labour MP Chris Bryant alleged he witnessed members of the commons “being physically manhandled into [voting another way] and bullied”. Speaking to Sky News later, he buttressed these claims, saying he witnessed “a group of several cabinet members” shouting at MPs to vote as instructed.
Ian Murray, also a Labour MP made similar claims, taking to Twitter to announce: “I’ve never seen scenes like it at the entrance to a voting lobby. Tories on open warfare. Jostling and Rees Mogg shouting at his colleagues. Whips screaming at Tories”. It is reported the speaker of the house is taking the reports of physical altercations in the voting lobbies “very seriously”.
Yet despite the effort, at the very last minute, the confidence part of the vote — possibly in fear they were going to lose — was called off. Farcially, the government went on to win the challenge, 326 votes to 230.
Yet having gone out to bat for the government — quite forcefully, it seems, and probably having burnt a great deal of good will doing so — the government whips, who are responsible for order among MPs and making sure they vote the right way are not happy to have had their efforts wasted. One Westminster insider notes — and language warning on this — that the deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker was heard to say “I am fucking furious and I don’t give a fuck anymore”. He is claimed to have resigned shortly afterwards, as did the chief whip Wendy Morton.
[Update 2030: there are claims and counter claims about who has actually resigned in terms of Whips. Hopefully the picture will be clearer in the morning]
It has been a bad day for bad language, for sure. Even naughtier examples have cropped up today.
Government-adjacent broadsheet The Daily Telegraph sums it up as well as anyone with this mirth-inducing update from their liveblog, which reflects the degree to which even the most integrated of the establishment political insiders have no idea what’s going on:
More as we have it and try to work out just what is going on Westminster this evening.
And all of that is just this evening. Earlier today, the recognisably small-c Home Secretary resigned — very likely pushed by the de-facto Prime Minister Hunt — to be replaced by Grant Shapps, meaning the whole of the top of government is now in the hands of people who opposed Brexit in 2016.
Today, Britain embodies that old curse, may you live in interesting times.
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