tonight, the next flashpoint a vote on fracking, drilling into the land to extract gas was turned by downing street into a serious test of loyalty in the government itself. division, clear the lobby! compelling conservatives to back it will face being kicked out of the parliamentary party a weak government attempting a show of strength and then seemingly changing its mind. in the voting lobbies, confusion, tory mps not even knowing the consequence for them of their vote. and afterwards, this extraordinary allegation from a labour mp. i saw members being physically manhandled into another lobby and being bullied. while crying! if we want to stand up against the bullying in this house of our staff,
tonight, the next flashpoint a vote on fracking, drilling into the land to extract gas was turned by downing street into a serious test of loyalty in the government itself. division, clear the lobby! compelling conservatives to back it will face being kicked out of the parliamentary party a weak government attempting a show of strength and then seemingly changing its mind. in the voting lobbies, confusion, tory mps not even knowing the consequence for them of their vote. and afterwards, this extraordinary allegation from a labour mp. i saw members being physically manhandled into another lobby and being bullied. while crying! if we want to stand up against the bullying in this house of our staff, we have to stop bullying in this chamber as well, don t we?
as home secretary. he stepped up after suella braverman stepped down, resigning over two data breaches. but have a look at her resignation letter. she wrote to the prime minister pretending we haven t made mistakes, carrying on as if everyone can t see that we have made them and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics. i have made a mistake. i accept responsibility. i resign. she was hinting at what some conservative mps were saying privately and publicly last night here in westminster, that the government has lost its authority and that they think liz truss should go. another source of tension last night was a vote in parliament tabled by labour about whether mps should get a say on the government s plans to bring back fracking. downing street told tory mps the vote would be considered a vote of confidence in the government itself, and if they didn t oppose it and back the government they would face being kicked out of the parliamentary party. in the vo
hoyle said i remind members that the behaviour code applies to them as well as to other members of our parliamentary community. the shadow health secretary wes streeting appeared on bbc breakfast earlier on and he has been reflecting on the scenes in parliament last night. i think people have seen on the screen is the degree of chaos in parliament, the extent to which a stable government has broken down, and even at the height of some of the biggest political dramas, i ve beenin the biggest political dramas, i ve been in parliament since 2015, i haven t quite seen the kind of scenes we saw last night of mps being shoved into the voting lobbies, conservative mps breaking down in tears in the toilets. it is a mess. the point is, because actually i don t think the central issue here is who has whatjob or how stressful conservative mps are finding things, it is the consequences of this chaos across the country. consequences of this chaos across the country-
on what the situation is with the chief whip. there has been an element of confusion over whether the vote was a confidence vote or not. it was a great victory today. chief whip, great credit to her. but people being manhandled into the voting lobbies? - chief whip did a great job today. they both remain in post, seemingly with the backing of the deputy prime minister, who was on her way to a gathering of senior conservatives at a private member s club. but it s the prime minister s position that is looking increasingly vulnerable today, with some tory mps confirming they have sent letters of no confidence in liz truss to sir graham brady, who runs the committee of backbench tory mps. how many letters have been sent in, sir? - all thisjust six weeks into her premiership. herfate now depends on what her own mps here in westminster decide to do next. ione wells, bbc news. caroline slocock is the former