“Behavior like that seen last night is not acceptable under any circumstances,” he said today, at the opening of the parliamentary session.
At issue are scenes of confusion recorded in a vote on Wednesday night on a Labor Party proposal to ban shale gas exploration. [“fracking”]which was eventually blocked by the Government by 326 against 230 votes.
During the afternoon it was reported that Conservative MPs were instructed to vote against the proposal, as a defeat would be seen as a motion of censure on the prime minister.
Doubts about voting discipline created confusion and the process was clouded by accusations of coercion and rumors of dismissals in the leadership of the parliamentary bench.
Minutes later, Representative Chris Bryant urged Vice Speaker of the House of Commons Eleanor Laing to investigate, alleging that there had been intimidation, including physical.
Bryant reported to the BBC today that he saw a group of around 20 MPs, including health and economics ministers Therese Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg, surrounding a pair of undecided colleagues.
“It was very aggressive”, he declared, referring to “many shouts, fingers in the air, gesticulations” and at least one deputy being forcibly pushed into the voting room in favor of the Government.
Conservative Charles Walker described the situation to the BBC as “inexcusable” and “absolutely shameful”, expressing himself “furious” at the scenes he saw and saying that “patience has reached the limit”.
“Unless we organize ourselves and behave like adults, I fear that many hundreds of my colleagues, perhaps 200, will leave at the will of their voters”, he said, referring to a potential electoral defeat.
Also to the BBC, Conservative Simon Hoare confessed to feeling “fury, despair, sadness” at the instability in the Government and parliamentary group.
“It is worrying”, he acknowledged, advocating a “major government reshuffle” and giving the prime minister “about 12 hours” to show that he is capable of “turning the boat”.
“Today and tomorrow are decisive days,” he said, pointing to the “growing feeling of pessimism on all sides of the party.”
Former negotiator for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (EU), David Frost, joined the growing chorus of voices calling for the resignation of Liz Truss, in office for just 44 days.
“Liz Truss must leave as soon as possible. The successor, whoever he is, must be capable, competent, and able to communicate effectively,” she wrote today in an op-ed in the Daily Telegraph.
The prime minister’s position became even more precarious on Wednesday with the resignation of Suella Braverman as minister of the interior, in the meantime replaced by Grant Shapps.
In the resignation letter, he accused Truss of breaking with commitments made, namely in the migration policy, and urged her to take responsibility for the mistakes made in the economic strategy, which created turmoil in the financial markets.
“The functioning of government depends on people accepting responsibility for their mistakes. Pretending we didn’t make mistakes, carrying on as if no one saw we made them, and hoping that things will magically turn out well is not politically serious. I made a mistake, I accepted responsibility, I resigned,” Braverman said.
BM // APN
Lusa/end
