Liz Truss clings to power as chaos in Westminster escalates
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[October 20, 2022]
By Elizabeth Piper, Andrew MacAskill and Muvija M
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Liz Truss
battled to retain her grip on power on Thursday, a day after she lost a
second top minister and open arguments and jostling among her lawmakers
in parliament highlighted a breakdown of party unity and discipline.
In just six weeks as prime minister, Truss has been forced to abandon
almost all her policy programme after it triggered a bond market rout
and a collapse of her approval ratings and those of her Conservative
Party.
Since last Friday she has lost two of the four most senior ministers in
government, sat expressionless in parliament as her new finance minister
ripped up her economic plans and faced howls of laughter as she tried to
defend her record.
"We can't go on like this," one Conservative lawmaker told Reuters late
on Wednesday, of the chaotic scenes in parliament.
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The sight of yet another unpopular prime minister clinging to power
underscores just how volatile British politics has become since the 2016
vote to leave the European Union unleashed a battle for the direction of
the country.
Truss became Britain's fourth prime minister in six years after being
elected in September to lead the Conservative Party by its members, not
the broader electorate, and with support from only around a third of the
party's lawmakers. She promised tax cuts funded by borrowing,
deregulation and a sharp shift to the right on cultural and social
issues.
Her abrupt loss of authority comes as the economy heads into recession
and her new finance minister Jeremy Hunt races to find tens of billions
of pounds of spending cuts to reassure investors who took fright at
Truss's policy proposals.
Government borrowing costs, while lower than they were at the height of
the crisis last week, remain elevated as investors question who is in
charge and whether Hunt will be able to rebuild Britain's once-sound
economic reputation.
Crispin Blunt, a Conservative lawmaker for 25 years, told Reuters the
situation was so grave that his colleagues needed to allow one person
with experience to take control.
"Personal considerations and ambition now must be set aside," he said,
adding that he would back Hunt as leader.
Tobias Ellwood, head of parliament's defence select committee, said
Truss needed to survive until Oct. 31 when Hunt is due to set out how he
will rebuild the public finances.
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Any implosion before then, he said, would lead to yet more pressure on
the pound.
Other candidates to replace Truss include former finance minister Rishi
Sunak - who warned that her economic policy would damage the economy -
or Penny Mordaunt, a minister who is popular with many strands of the
party.
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![](../images/102022PIX/news_y8.jpg)
British Prime Minister Liz Truss leaves
Number 10 Downing Street for the Houses of Parliament, in London,
Britain, October 19, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Sep/05/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
BUFFETED BY EVENTS
Truss has been fighting for political survival since Sept. 23 when
her then-finance minister and close ally, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced
a "mini-budget" of vast, unfunded tax cuts that sent shockwaves
through financial markets.
She fired Kwarteng on Friday and accepted the resignation of her
interior minister, Suella Braverman, on Wednesday.
With opinion polls showing the Conservatives face a wipeout at the
next election, some lawmakers say Truss must go so they can try to
rebuild their brand. Others seem to have given up.
"Sadly, it seems we must change leader BUT even if the angel Gabriel
now takes over, the Parliamentary Party has to urgently rediscover
discipline, mutual respect and teamwork if we are to (i) govern the
UK well and (ii) avoid slaughter at the next election," lawmaker
Gary Streeter said on Twitter.
With inflation at a 40-year high and mortgage rates jumping, the
scenes of lawmakers warring and scheming in parliament risk
deepening anger among voters who are preparing for a tough winter of
rising food and energy costs.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Oct/20/images/ads/current/bennet_lda_010722.png)
Wednesday's parliamentary drama was sparked by confusion over
whether a vote on fracking was a confidence vote in the government.
Opposition lawmakers said some of Truss's Conservatives were
"manhandled" to vote with the government.
In the turmoil that followed the government could not say for
several hours whether the politician in charge of party discipline -
the chief whip - had quit.
"I think it is a shambles and a disgrace," lawmaker Charles Walker
told BBC television, saying he was "livid" at the "talentless
people" who put Truss in power.
Truss's Downing Street office eventually issued a statement at 1:33
am (0033 GMT) to say the prime minister had "full confidence" in the
chief whip and her deputy.
It said any lawmaker who abstained on the vote to allow fracking
could "expect proportionate disciplinary action". Voting results
show that more than 30 Conservative lawmakers did not vote,
including those who were away or unwell.
Transport minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan, sent out to defend the
government to broadcasters and radio stations on Thursday morning,
was asked if Truss would lead the Conservative Party into the next
election, expected in 2024.
"At the moment that is still the case," she said.
(Writing by Kate Holton; additional reporting by Farouq Suleiman and
Kylie MacLellan; Editing by William Schomberg, Sarah Young and
Catherine Evans)
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