It seems so long since the Conservatives promised a ‘strong and stable government’

Editorial: The resignation of Suella Braverman – part-sacking, part early reshuffle – points to exactly how rickety the Truss administration has become

(Dave Brown)

Liz Truss may, as she told the Commons, be “a fighter not a quitter”, but that doesn’t seem to be so true of those around her.

Her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, resigned last week. Her Home Secretary, Suella Braverman followed yesterday. A few hours later her chief whip, Wendy Morton, and deputy chief whip, Craig Whittaker emerged from some ugly scenes in the voting lobbies and left the government. Discipline is no longer a member of this government.

In addition, Ms Truss has had to suspend her deputy press secretary for a scatological insult against Sajid Javid, and she transferred her chief secretary to the treasury, Chris Philp, apparently for coming up with a toxic idea about tax cuts Ms Truss once gleefully adopted. In addition, a number of her colleagues on the backbenches are having the whip withdrawn for voting against fracking (which was ruled out by the Tories in the 2019 election).

In return, four of her own MPs have called on her to quit, 40 days or so into the job; and a large number of letters of no confidence have been sent to Graham Brady as chair of the 1922 Committee. Former minister Michael Gove has said it’s a matter of “when, not if” Ms Truss will have to stop being a fighter and become a quitter.

The resignation of Ms Braverman – part-sacking, part early reshuffle – does point to exactly how rickety the Truss administration has become. No sooner had the prime minister just about survived Prime Minister’s Questions than she had to cancel a visit to a factory and attend to the misdemeanours of her home secretary. She did break the ministerial code, though the breach was far less severe than some others where ministers were left in place with a mild reprimand – Ms Braverman’s predecessor Priti Patel being a poignant case in point. And, of course, Boris Johnson was also found to have transcended the rules repeatedly and with cheery abandon.

Ms Braverman obviously feels ill-used, and took the opportunity to criticise the government and Liz Truss personally on the way out. It’s no state secret that Ms Braverman opposed the relaxation of visas contained in the forthcoming UK-India free trade deal, as well as being at odds with Ms Truss on withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights, the tax hikes, benefits and the general direction of policy.

There were also credible rumours that the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, was unimpressed with his senior colleague, and that she might well have been sacked or demoted in a forthcoming reshuffle. Kwarteng has gone, and now Ms Braverman. Who’s next for a Truss-Hunt redundancy notice? Will the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, leave – rather than see the increase in the defence budget delayed? Might it be Ms Truss herself?

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It seems a long time since the Conservatives promised the UK “strong and stable government”. Five years, two general elections, two prime ministers as well as about a half-dozen chancellors and home secretaries ago, in fact. It is no way to run a country, with a prime minister in office but not in power; a chancellor effectively running much of the business of government and a UK sovereign debt crisis narrowly averted.

The present policy of the government is far removed from the boosterish ambitions of the 2019 general election. Scarcely a day goes by without a 2019 manifesto commitment being ditched with barely an apology, a U-turn or a ministerial resignation dominating the headlines.

The electorate, as a Brenda from Bristol once famously pointed out, isn’t greatly in favour of early general elections, but given the way the vital functions of government are simply collapsing, it may be the only way out of this protracted chaos.

A general election was the way the parliamentary impasse on Brexit in the 2017-19 parliament was ended, an instructive precedent. To borrow another Tory slogan from the dawn of their time in power in 2010, “we can’t go on like this”. It’s time for the people to enter this debate. It’s their country, after all.