Government Still Won't Settle On Whether Chaotic Fracking Vote Was "Confidence" Matter As Liz Truss Clings On
Liz Truss continues to face questions over her future after a chaotic evening in Parliament (Alamy)
4 min read
Westminster is braced for a new day of chaos, after a minister appeared to contradict an early hours clarification from No 10 on whether a major vote last night was as confidence matter.
Conservative MPs who were told yesterday that they would have the whip removed if they did not back the government on fracking have now been warned that they face “proportionate disciplinary action”, following a late night message to journalists from No 10. A total of 33 Tory MPs did not back the government.
Prime Minister Liz Truss's leadership is hanging in the balance as tensions in the party continue to spill out into public view after an evening of mayhem in Parliament last night.
Tory MP Simon Hoare suggested this morning that Liz Truss has around 12 hours to save her own job. “If this was a career review... then the score sheet isn't looking very good," he told the BBC. "I think today, tomorrow are crunch days."
MP Crispin Blunt told Radio 4’s Today programme that Truss's position is “wholly untenable” and that a change should be made “today”.
“We need to effect a change, frankly today, in order to stop this shambles and give our country the governance it needs under our constitution," he added.
South West Devon MP Gary Streeter also agreed that "it seems we must change leader," in a tweet that warned the party must unite behind whoever takes over to "avoid slaughter at the next election".
A palpable anger in the party that has grown in the chaotic weeks following Truss and former chanceller Kwasi Kwarteng's disastrous "mini-Budget" has been exacerbated in the last 24 hours as a result of the government's chaotic handling of Labour's Opposition Day Motion on fracking on Wednesday.
Throughout Wednesday, Conservative MPs had been warned that those who voted against the government would lose the Tory whip. However, moments before voting got underway at 7pm minister Graham Stuart told MPs: "Obviously this is not a confidence vote."
While the government ultimately won the vote, 33 Conservatives did not back the government, raising questions over whether they would face disciplinary action after all.
In a note to journalists at around 1:30am on Thursday, Downing Street sought to clarify the situation suggesting the vote was a confidence matter as originally briefed.
“Conservative MPs were fully aware that the vote was subject to a three line whip. The whips will now be speaking to Conservative MPs who failed to support the government," the statement read.
“Those without a reasonable excuse for failing to vote with the government can expect proportionate disciplinary action.”
But Transport Secretary Anne Marie Trevelyn appeared to contradict the government by stating the opposite this morning.
When asked by Sky News this morning whether the issue had been a confidence vote, Trevelyn answered: “no”.
“It was a very important vote,” she added.
There was also confusion over whether Chief Whip Wendy Morton had resigned in protest at last night's chaos after multiple reports from those present in the voting lobbies that she and Deputy Chief Whip Craig Whittaker had also quit. A number of MPs also claimed that they had seen Conservative MPs being manhandled in the lobbies.
Late on Thursday night, however, Downing Street confirmed that both Morton and Whittaker remained in post.
“The Prime Minister has full confidence in the Chief and Deputy Chief Whip,” following an earlier clarification that the pair remain in post,” a statement read.
“Throughout the day, the whips had treated the vote as a confidence motion. The minister at the despatch box was told, mistakenly, by Downing Street to say that it was not.”
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