UK politics live: Liz Truss faces deepening turmoil after day of chaos | Liz Truss

John Crace’s account of an excruciating PMQs paints a picture of a prime minister very much on borrowed time, and at the mercy of others.

Then Keir Starmer stood up to administer further wounds. None fatal. It suits Labour to have an ersatz prime minister who everyone knows is on life support. This was the Labour leader at his most surgical. His most forensic. Good gags, better soundbites. Short and not so sweet. Truss had nothing to say. Other than “sorry”, “I take the tough decisions” – she really doesn’t, the tough decisions are all made on her behalf – and “what has Labour done about the economic crisis?”. Er … a word to the dim. Labour hasn’t been in government for more than 12 years. It didn’t cause the chaos nor is it in a position to do anything about it. Not yet, anyway.

Here is the video of a furious Charles Walker, the veteran Tory MP who accused those who backed Liz Truss for PM of acting out of self-interest.

He later told Radio 4’s The World Tonight: “I am really pleased that the home secretary has resigned, because I didn’t think she was up to the job. So let’s not beat around the bush here. And I expect the prime minister to resign very soon because she’s not up to her job either… I will shed no tears for either of them.

“It’s chaos and most of my colleagues have had enough. There may be 30 out there that still feel that somehow this shamble is recoverable. But about 330 of us have now given up all hope that the current PM can navigate her way out of this.

“We need to take ownership of this as a political party … the grown-ups in our party, and a few do exist, need to meet in a papal conclave over the next 24 hours and decide on a coronation. I don’t want any nonsense of votes I want the best person we’ve got to become prime minister.”

If it is all too bleak today, you can find some light-hearted solace in some of the reaction to Suella Braverman’s departure. I’m looking specifically at the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati.

Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker appeared on Peston last night to voice his anger at Tory MPs who abstained during the crucial fracking vote, and to claim that Liz Truss “cannot be removed” from power.

“The prime minister cannot be removed, whether she goes or not is up to her,” he said. “So if members of Parliament just seek to lay waste to government business and our reputation, they can do that, but they can’t remove the prime minister. All they can do is destroy the Conservative party and the prospects of decent centre-right government in this country.”

Also: “Rishi would be a good prime minister.”

Robert Peston says Tory MPs who abstained at yesterday’s fracking vote can expect “proportionate disciplinary action”, because it was a confidence vote, according to Downing Street.

More than 40 Conservative MPs failed to back Liz Truss on the vote, amid claims of intimidation and bullying and general confusion.

Tory whips had earlier written to MPs telling them the vote was being seen as confidence measure, however the climate minister, Graham Stuart, later told the Commons: “Quite clearly this is not a confidence vote.”

Welcome to the UK politics blog, launching a little earlier today given the seismic nature of Wednesday’s tumultuous proceedings. Here’s a summary to catch you up:

• The British government appears at risk of collapse after home secretary Suella Braverman launched a stinging attack on the prime minister, Liz Truss, after being forced to resign.
• Braverman’s resignation letter included a pointed rebuke of Truss. Braverman said she resigned because she sent an official government document to an MP and this was “a technical infringement of the rules”. However, her letter also contained sharp comments about Truss’s leadership, saying: “I have concerns about the direction of this government. Not only have we broken key pledges that were promised to our voters, but I have had serious concerns about this government’s commitment to honouring manifesto commitments …” In a cursory reply, Truss told Braverman: “I accept your resignation and respect the decision you have made.”
• Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition, said the Tory party was “imploding” after a day of chaos in Westminster. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the government was “falling apart at the seams”.
• Truss appointed a new home secretary, Grant Shapps, on Thursday afternoon, to replace Braverman. Shapps is seen as more of a moderate. He was sacked as transport secretary by Truss after she reportedly told him there was “no room at the inn” for him after she became PM. He backed Truss’s rival, Rishi Sunak, after dropping his own run for the party leadership.
• With a tenure of 43 days, Braverman is the shortest-serving home secretary since the Duke of Wellington who lasted just a month in 1834. Her exit comes just days after Kwasi Kwarteng was replaced as chancellor by Jeremy Hunt, anther Conservative moderate.
• The chorus of voices demanding Truss resign after a series of policy u-turns and departures from her cabinet is growing. Lord David Frost, who was Boris Johnson’s former Brexit negotiator, has written in the Telegraph calling on Truss to resign. “Truss just can’t stay in office for one very obvious reason: she campaigned against the policies she is now implementing.”
• Sir Charles Walker, a veteran Tory backbencher, said on Wednesday night that he expected Truss to resign “very soon”, and that he was “really pleased” at Braverman’s resignation. He told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight: “I expect the prime minister to resign very soon because she’s not up to her job either … I will shed no tears for either of them.” Earlier in the Commons he spoke of his anger at the scenes in Westminster, calling them a “pitiful reflection of the Conservative parliamentary party at every level”.
• William Wragg, a Conservative MP, said he has written a letter to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, calling for a vote of no confidence in Truss.
• The Conservative chief and deputy chief whip “remain in post”, Downing Street said, after earlier reports suggesting Wendy Morton and Craig Whittaker had quit after chaotic scenes in parliament over a vote on fracking.
• Labour’s Chris Bryant said he saw Tory MPs being “physically manhandled” and “bullied” in the voting lobbies during the vote, which the government ultimately won. Bryant told Sky News: “There was a bunch of Conservative members who were completely uncertain about whether they were allowed to vote with the Labour motion because of what had been said in the chamber about whether it’s a free vote or a confidence vote. There was a group – including several cabinet ministers – who were basically shouting at them. At least one member was physically pulled through the door into the voting lobby.”