Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reiterated his calls for a general election during his address to the TUC congress in Brighton.
As more allies turned against Prime Minister Liz Truss, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer calls for a general election to end the political impasse at Westminster.
Sir Keir reiterated his calls for a general election during his address to the TUC congress in Brighton.
Speaking about what happened in Parliament during a vote on fracking last night he says “even by their standards, [it was] a new chaotic low. All the failures of the past 12 years have now come to the boil,” BBC reported.
He says the Conservatives have shown “they lack the basic patriotic duty to keep the British people out of their own pathetic squabbles”.
“This cannot continue. Britain deserves better. Britain cannot afford the chaos of the Conservatives anymore. We need a general election now.”
Meanwhile, Tory MPs have suggested a ‘quad’ of four senior ministers replace Truss. Backbenchers have suggested that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, his predecessor Rishi Sunak, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt could come together to run the government, Daily Mail reported.
But they admitted this might be a problem, with talks between several of the quartet yet to get off the ground amid reports they cannot agree on what roles to take.
Hunt and Wallace have distanced themselves from running to be replacement PM, while Mordaunt’s allies are said to have failed to recruit Sunak to be her Chancellor because he wants to be PM, Daily Mail reported.
One Tory MP told the newspaper that “no one can get their egos in check”, but an ex-minister insisted: “We are edging towards the dream scenario. Jeremy is a stable chancellor, with Penny and Rishi and possibly a Boris continuity figure like Ben Wallace, forming a quad who can command some respect. They can each keep their troops in line and we knuckle down”.
It came as former minister Michael Gove said that Truss’s days are numbered.
In remarks reported by the Guardian he told an event: “The question for any leader is what happens when the programme or the platform on which you secured the leadership has been shredded.”
A recent poll found that more than half of Tory members want her to quit, with Boris Johnson the favourite to take over. A bombshell YouGov survey revealed four in five party activists thought the PM was doing a bad job and 55 per cent were convinced she should go, compared to just 38 per cent who backed her staying, Daily Mail reported.
It’s a fast-moving situation in Westminster. As it stands at least 13 MPs have publicly called on the prime minister to resign. They are: Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen, Jamie Wallis, Angela Richardson, Sir Charles Walker, William Wragg, Sheryll Murray, Gary Streeter, Henry Smith, Steve Double, Miriam Cates, Siobhan Baillie and Matthew Offord.
Meanwhile, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has launched an investigation into reports of misconduct in voting lobbies last night. Hoyle said he had asked the Serjeant at Arms and other officials to “investigate the incident and report back to me”.
He reminded MPs to “treat each other with courtesy and respect”.
The vote last night was supposed to be about fracking but there was confusion over whether it was really a motion of no confidence. It descended into chaos with Tory MP’s ‘bullying’ and ‘manhandling’ voters in the lobby, according to reports from MPs.
There are 33 Conservative MPs who did not vote on Labour’s fracking motion. That include sacked chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, Boris Johnson, Theresa May and Priti Patel.
If a Tory MP doesn’t vote with the Government, one mustn’t presume that he is objecting to the matter on which the vote is being held. Abstentions are to be treated with caution. He could be abroad; or ill; or on urgent business. The list includes Nigel Adams, Gareth Bacon, Siobhan Baillie, Greg Clark, Geoffrey Cox, Tracey Crouch, David Davis, Caroline Dineage, Nadine Dorries, Philip Dunne, Mark Fletcher, Vicky Ford, Paul Holmes, Alister Jack, Boris Johnson, Gillian Keegan, Kwasi Kwarteng, Robert Largan, Pauline Latham, Mark Logan, Theresa May, Priti Patel, Mark Pawsey, Angela Richardson, Andrew Rosindell, Bob Seely, Alok Sharma, Chris Skidmore, Henry Smith, Ben Wallace, John Whittingdale, William Wragg and Jeremy Wright.