they voted with the government. the commons speaker has launched an investigation into what happened in the voting lobbies. we now have at least seven tory mps calling for the prime minister and equipped, so let s get an overview of the story so far. earlier today the transport secretary told the bbc the government is still functioning and that the prime minister has the support of her cabinet. meanwhile, the tory mps for the prime minister to quit, as has the conservative peer ed vaizey. today another conservative mp told the prime minister has a matter of hours to turn around her premiership. there is fury amongst conservative mps over the way ministers handled that fracking boat. they were first told it was a test of confidence in the prime minister, then told in the commons it wasn t, but in the early hours of today the government changed its
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. our chief political correspondent nick eardley is in downing street this morning. help those people watching our programme this morning who might be a little bemused by what s going on
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 voting lobbies, there was confusion with some mps not sure of the consequences of their vote. here was the damning assessment from one veteran tory mp. i think it s a shambles and a
and it is incredibly frustrating. i think it s also. it s frustrating in terms of all the things that you can do in government, but also frustrating watching them right now, because it feels like they are damaging everybody. we re going to talk about politics, as it were, in a while. but just talking about you, do you ever feel, as these years have passed on, years of opposition, maybe i had my moment, maybe it s time to do something else 7 and seeing your husband ed develop a completely new life, are there moments you think, not, i could go on strictly because i suspect that s not quite your thing. but are there moments where you think, there s another life i could have had ? 0h, he is having a whale of a time, isn t he? so, yes, he is having a great time. and there are times, especially, you know, when we have a series of votes that we just keep losing and we just keep walking round in circles in the voting lobbies and dutifully voting on something that we are making no differenc
and seeing your husband ed develop a completely new life, are there moments you think, not, i could go on strictly because i suspect that s not quite your thing. but are there moments where you think, there s another life i could have had ? 0h, he is having a whale of a time, isn t he? so, yes, he is having a great time. and there are times, especially, you know, when we have a series of votes that we just keep losing and we just keep walking round in circles in the voting lobbies and dutifully voting on something that we are making no difference on at all, there are times when you think, yes, other people are having an awful lot more fun! other people, she says. point to ed! i was reading, which i didn t know, that you d dreamt once of being a tap dancer. yes, see, the strictly thing is interesting because i did tap lessons when i was a child and i really liked tap dancing and thought that would be great fun, and i wasn t particularly good at it but i did really like it. so the d