By Stefan Boscia
After vowing she was a “fighter” today, Liz Truss’ premiership looked more unstable than ever following the resignation of key figures and a shambolic vote in parliament late tonight.
Chief whip Wendy Morton and deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker resigned tonight after a Labour vote on fracking, which allegedly saw senior Tory MPs physically manhandling and bullying their colleagues to get them to vote with the party line.
Home secretary Suella Braverman was also sacked earlier in the day for a security breach, sparking an attack from the right-winger on the embattled PM.
Braverman, who was removed for sending a Home Office document to a Tory backbencher, said she had “concerns about the direction of this government” and made a thinly veiled attack on Truss’ personal integrity.
Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey was later accused by several people of physically dragging a Tory MP into the voting lobby to vote with the party, in a scene one Tory backbencher told City A.M. was the stuff of “nightmares”.
There were other reports of Tory MPs crying as they were shouted at.
Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg denied there had been any physical intimidation of MPs.
Truss’ premiership is now on the brink of collapse as an increasing number of Tory MPs publicly call for her to go and as she lurches from crisis to crisis.
She declared earlier in the day that she was “a fighter, not a quitter” in front of a wall of Conservative backbenchers who gave her little support throughout Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).
Senior Labour MP Chris Bryant called for an investigation into the scenes at parliament, which came after confusion within the Tory party over whether MPs would be sacked if they did not vote for the government.
Morton and Whittaker had told MPs early today that Labour’s fracking motion was a de facto vote of confidence in Truss, however Number 10 reportedly overruled this just before the vote and did not tell the two most senior whips.
The enraged pair decided to quit amid the chaos and confusion, with Whittaker alleged to have yelled out in the voting lobbies that “I am f***ing furious and I don’t give a f**k anymore”.
Morton was reported to have stormed through the lobby and yelled out “I’m no longer the chief whip”, after an argument with Truss.
One Tory MP told City A.M. that the scenes were an “utter shambles”, while senior Tory Charles Walker told the BBC he was “livid” and that the damage Truss’ supporters had done to the party was “extraordinary”.
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