There will be no honeymoon for Truss's successor as PM

While the political explosion has been bad for the Conservative Party, it’s been unforgivably bad for the country and our economic prospects over the coming months and years.

At Wednesday’s PMQs, Truss – urged to go by Keir Starmer – declared: “I’m a fighter not a quitter.” True to form, however, she U-turned within 24 hours, following a how-bad-is-it chat with Sir Graham Brady, the chief Tory backbencher.

An hour or so later, that much-predicted lectern moment arrived in Downing Street and the lady announced she was for quitting. The pound immediately rallied as financial markets gave a “damning” reaction to her forced departure.

How anyone could have argued – as they did – that the Norfolk MP should have stayed in place to maintain stability was risible, given she personified instability.

Yet the stability that some senior Conservatives have talked of is party stability. What they should do is start thinking about the country’s stability. Underlining the current malaise, one business chief noted, how, currently, Britain was “uninvestible”.

After weeks of lurching from one disastrous development to another, with the Government seemingly surviving day by day, Wednesday finally saw the breaking point.

One would have thought a day when the Home Secretary resigned would have been bad enough for a Prime Minister. Particularly as Suella Braverman in her letter denounced Truss’s “tumultuous” premiership.

The ex-Cabinet minister stressed: “I have made a mistake. I accept responsibility. I resign.” The message to Ms Truss was clear.

Yet later on Wednesday, Whitehall chaos turned into Whitehall farce. The only thing missing was one of the political actors running naked through the Commons chamber chased by another brandishing a frying pan.

The ridiculous saga over the fracking vote and the on-then-off-then-on Tory confidence vote exemplified the chaos at the heart of the Truss premiership.

Backbencher Sir Charles Walker denounced the episode as “inexcusable” and an “absolute disgrace”. He spoke for many Tory MPs when he added pointedly: “All those people who put Liz Truss in Number 10 … I hope it was worth it to sit around the Cabinet table because the damage they have done to our party is extraordinary.”

But, remarkably, there was more. Wendy Morton, the Chief Whip, and her deputy, Craig Whittaker, had reportedly resigned. Indeed, Whittaker, faced with the Downing Street-inspired confusion, supposedly said: “I am f***ing furious and I don’t give a f*** anymore.”

It was also recounted how Ms Truss herself failed to vote because she had frantically pursued Ms Morton around the parliamentary estate, trying to persuade her not to resign. Sadly, there were no reports of accompanying Benny Hill music. After a lengthy discussion with the PM, Ms Morton and Mr Whittaker “unresigned”.

After the fracking debacle the mood within the party changed markedly. A string of Tory MPs broke cover yesterday morning to call for Ms Truss to go and when Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the Transport Secretary, failed repeatedly to say that the PM would lead their party into the next General Election, a tipping-point was reached.

Today, minds turn towards who comes next in what seems like a victory of the pragmatists over the ideologues. Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, has previously said that he doesn’t want the job as PM and Jeremy Hunt, the new Chancellor, yesterday also made clear he was not interested. Penny Mordaunt, the Commons Leader, is clearly thinking about it, saying only she would “keep calm and carry on”.

While Rishi Sunak, the ex-Chancellor who lost to Truss in the leadership contest and was proved right about her “fairy-tale” economics, has kept a conspicuous silence. Clearly, he would like another crack. His problem, though, is the party’s Brexit-loving right wing, which blames him for ousting Boris Johnson following his resignation as Chancellor. And then, dare I say, there is the king, making money over the water: Johnson.

The Times said the ex-PM, ditched just six weeks ago, is taking soundings and believes his candidature is a matter of “national interest”. Former aide, Sir James Duddridge, tweeted with the hashtag #bringbackboris: “I hope you enjoyed your holiday boss. Time to come back. Few issues at the office that need addressing.”

This weekend, two key players, Mr Hunt and Grant Shapps, the new Home Secretary, will be busy promoting Mr Sunak as the only person who could, against all the odds, secure the party another General Election victory.

While Mr Brady said the new Tory leader would be announced a week today, if weekend chats prove fruitful on agreeing a preferred candidate among key players, the Yorkshire MP could theoretically be installed on Monday. But Boris could scupper any such move; revenge and all that.

Yet, going forward, the Tories will continue to be a divided party as there really is no candidate who can unify all of it. Chances are the Brexit-loving Right wing will keep causing trouble.

As with Ms Truss, there will be no honeymoon for the new premier; perhaps only a congratulatory 24 hours or so before the reality of the Hallowe’en Budget bites Monday week when the harder half of the rescue plan is unveiled: the spending cuts.

Then there is the little matter of a mandate. As soon as Ms Truss made her announcement, Sir Keir demanded a general election “now” so the country could have “a chance at a fresh start” while Nicola Sturgeon argued an election was a “democratic imperative”. Given the polls, the new Conservative PM – the third in just two months – will resist mightily but if the difficulties pile up, the pressure on going to the country early might prove irresistible.

Read more by Michael Settle:

No wonder so many Tories are glum, and furious with Truss

Without clarity and credibility, Truss is failing on all fronts