Suella Braverman news latest: Home secretary resigns and chief whip ‘threatens to quit’

As our political editor Andy Woodcock reports, eye-witnesses said chief whip Wendy Morton, who was undermined by the U-turn on treating the fracking motion as a vote of confidence, tonight declared her resignation in the voting lobby, as Ms Truss tried to persuade her to stay.

The lack of official confirmation of her departure this evening suggests the resignation may have been withdrawn, with No 10 saying there was “no update” on her position.

Read more about tonight’s chaotic scenes below:

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader has said if Liz Truss had “an ounce of decency, or any self-respect” she would quit before she is forced out by her MPs.

Mr Blackford, who is MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, said: “Liz Truss needs to go – and she needs to go now. The utter chaos at the centre of the Tory government cannot continue any longer.

“It’s wrecking the economy and damaging people’s mortgages, pensions and incomes. If she had an ounce of decency, or any self-respect, the Prime Minister would resign before she is inevitably forced from office.

“And then there must be an election.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg has dismissed reports that Tory MPs were bullied into entering the “no” lobby in the Commons to vote against the Labour motion on fracking.

“I think to characterise it as bullying is mistaken,” he told Sky News.

“I did hear one person shout and use an expletive as he marched in. He said everyone should go and vote and he said that loudly. But he didn’t say it to anyone individually. He said it to the assembled crowd.

“There were some people waiting outside the division lobby who weren’t sure whether it was a vote of no confidence or not and there was some discussion on the issue. It was a perfectly normal discussion.”

He said there had been “confusion” after a “junior official” from No 10 had relayed a message to the Government frontbench that it was no longer a confidence vote.

“Nobody else was aware of that. Most members though it was a vote of confidence,” he said.

Describing events in the House of Commons over the fracking vote, Conservative backbencher Sir Charles Walker told the BBC: “I’ve really not seen anything like tonight.

“What I understand is that we were on a confidence vote, which means if you voted against your government, you’d lose the whip because in essence, you were saying you had no confidence in the Government.

“Then at the despatch box, in the wind-up, the minister said it wasn’t a confidence vote, which created chaos in the division lobbies. There was then a sort of 20-minute delay between the vote happening and the result being announced, which by the way, wasn’t even close. The Government won it by nearly 100 votes. But I just think the whole thing is extraordinary. And somewhere in between this, the vote being called and the result being announced the chief whip resigned.

“But I just think the whole thing is extraordinary.”

He said he is leaving Parliament at the next general election voluntarily, adding: “Unless we get our act together and behave like grown-ups, I’m afraid many hundreds of my colleagues, perhaps 200, will be leaving at the behest of their electorate.”

Therese Coffey denied she “manhandled” Tory MPs to force them to support the government in the fracking vote, according to sources close to the deputy prime minister.

“Absolutely she was encouraging Con MPs into the government lobby but she didn’t manhandle anyone,” they told the PA news agency.

More reports from MPs about what happened during tonight’s chaotic vote on fracking in the House of Commons.

Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg was told to “f*** off” by Tory MPs, some of which were allegedly physically forced to vote against Labour’s motion to reinstate a ban on fracking.

Deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker has reportedly resigned.

A Tory MP said, according to tweets, that they overheard him saying: “I am f****** furious and I don’t give a f*** anymore” following a vote on fracking.

Chief whip Wendy Morton has also resigned, according to reports, over a shambolic voting process this evening.

MPs said they saw Tory members physically “dragged” and “bullied” into the ‘no’ lobby to vote against Labour’s proposals to ban fracking.

Tory MPs have reportedly been “manhandled” during a vote on Labour’s proposals to ban fracking.

Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle said: “Just seen Tory whips manhandling a crying Tory MP into their lobby for fracking.

“You couldn’t make this toxic stuff up, nasty to see the Tories at work, if this is how they treat their MPs spare a thought for the country.”

Another Labour MP, Chris Bryant, tweeted that he saw “members being physically manhandled onto the lobby and bullied”.

On Sky News, he alleged that Therese Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg may have been involved into physically forcing an MP into the ‘no’ lobby.

The Tory government succeeded in getting Labour’s proposal to ban the controversial practice of fracking voted down.

Some 326 MPs voted against banning fracking, while 230 MPs voted for it.

Shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire, raising a point of order, said there are “very strong rumours” that the government chief whip Wendy Morton has resigned.

If true, it is yet another blow in a short space of time for prime minister Liz Truss.

Veteran political journalist Andrew Neil said that Ms Morton resigning would be another sign that “it’s over” for Ms Truss.