Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[mongers]

The home secretary's resignation letter:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63320750

Suella Braverman has resigned as home secretary after sending an official document to a parliamentary colleague using her personal email. Here is her resignation letter in full.

Dear Prime Minister,

It is with the greatest regret that I am choosing to tender my resignation.

Earlier today, I sent an official document from my personal email to a trusted parliamentary colleague as part of policy engagement, and with the aim of garnering support for government policy on migration. This constitutes a technical infringement of the rules. As you know, the document was a draft Written Ministerial Statement about migration, due for publication imminently. Much of it had already been briefed to MPs. Nevertheless it is right for me to go.

As soon as I realised my mistake, I rapidly reported this on official channels, and informed the Cabinet Secretary. As Home Secretary I hold myself to the highest standards and my resignation is the right thing to do. The business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes. 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 polities. I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility: I resign.

It is obvious to every one that we are going through a tumultuous time. I have concerns about the direction of this government. Not only have we broken key pledges that were promised to our voters, but I have had serious concerns about this Government's commitment to honouring manifesto commitments, such as reducing overall migration numbers and stopping illegal migration, particularly the dangerous small boats crossings.

It has been a great honour to serve at the Home Office. In even the brief time that I have been here, it has been very clear that there is much to do, in terms of delivering on the priorities of the British people. They deserve policing they can respect, an immigration policy they want and voted for in such unambiguous numbers at the last election, and laws which serve the public good, and not the interests of selfish protesters.

I am very grateful to all of my officials, special advisers and ministerial team for all of their help during my time as Home Secretary. I especially would like to pay tribute to the heroic policemen and women and all those who work at Border Force and in our security services. To oversee Operation Bridges - the largest policing operation in a generation - was a great honour and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve.

I wish my successor good luck.

Yours sincerely,

Rt Hon Suella Braverman KC MP

In response, Prime Minister Liz Truss wrote:

Dear Suella,

Thank you for your letter. I accept your resignation and respect the decision you have made. It is important that the Ministerial Code is upheld, and that Cabinet confidentiality is respected.

I am grateful for your service as Home Secretary. Your time in office has been marked by your steadfast commitment to keeping the British people safe. You oversaw the largest ever ceremonial policing operation, when thousands of officers were deployed from forces across the United Kingdom to ensure the safety of the Royal Family and all those who gathered in mourning for Her Late Majesty The Queen.

I am also grateful for your previous work as Attorney General, as my Cabinet colleague and in particular your work on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

I look forward to working with you in the future and wish you all the best.

Best wishes

Liz Truss

[Sheilbh]

Too bad You Kay is going to miss out on the fracking revolution.

Again it's mad the government made this the hill to die on because the fracking companies have said they don't think it's commercially viable in the UK anyway

[The Brain]

Wow, that's some impressive lack of integrity in the Home Secretary.

[Gups]

Too bad You Kay is going to miss out on the fracking revolution.

Again it's mad the government made this the hill to die on because the fracking companies have said they don't think it's commercially viable in the UK anyway

I think I read somewhere that we are 250m years too late

[The Brain]

:cher:

[celedhring]

I think Malcolm Tucker would have had a stroke.

[Gups]

From Conservative Home...




Earlier today, in the wake of Suella Braverman's resignation, it was reported that Wendy Morton and her deputy, Craig Whittaker, had both resigned.

The reason appears to have been that, first, it was confirmed earlier today that this afternoon's vote on fracking would be treated by the whips as a vote of confidence in the Government...

...And that, second, that Graham Stuart, the Minister responding to the debate, indicated that it wasn't – without Morton having been told...

...Which led her and Whittaker to tell colleagues that they had quit their posts amidst chaos in the lobbies – presumably on the ground that neither can continue if the authority of the whips is undermined.

It has been reported that Liz Truss chased Morton through the lobbies to persuade her to stay on, thus missing the vote, and so initially being registered as having failed to support a confidence measure that she herself had called...

...That Whittaker came out of the lobbies and said "I am f*cking furious and I don't give a f*ck anymore", amidst claims of Therese Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg manhandling Conservative MPs (which he denies)...

...And that Truss was barracked by Tory MPs in the lobbies as confusion reigned about the status of the vote, in which 37 Tory MPs are registered as failing to support the Government.

Finally as I write, Downing Street is claiming that neither Morton nor Whittaker have resigned.  Both have apparently been in a meeting with Truss in the aftermath of the vote.

I was a Conservative MP for the best part of ten years, and have been a political journalist for the better part of 20.  But as the old song about the pushmepullyou has it, I've "never seen anything like it in my life

[Tamas]

[Josquius]

I do have trouble believing Mogg could man handle anything.

The whole situation is an absolute mess. And there's no way out.

[Sheilbh]

Not really a tofu eater, but I do use soya milk instead of dairy...hopefully that will count for membership of the wokerati 

Also and far be it for me to judge someone else's lifestyle - but Suella Braverman is a Triratna Buddhist (Western buddhism), who's fluent in French and has a Masters in European and French law from the Sorbonne. Just not sure the soyboy stuff works from her

[Zanza]

Honestly the Theresa May suggestion isn't a mad idea. If they're not going to have a contest and as everyone expects them to lose badly at the next election the job is to hold the party together until the election and lose with dignity. It could be one of them but if it's not a contest and it's not running to lead for a while it feels like it can't be someone from any particular faction or with serious ambitions - so it feels like that rules out Sunak, Mordaunt, Badenoch, Braverman etc. Similarly it can't be someone who lots of the MPs would object to which probably rules out Johnson, Hunt etc.

The ERG/Brexiteer wing will no accept May while the NIP Is still under discussion with the EU, their promised bonfire of regulations has not happened etc.

The party is probably too chaotic and too quarreling between factions to find any candidate with sufficient support.

[alfred russel]

I do have trouble believing Mogg could man handle anything.

The whole situation is an absolute mess. And there's no way out.

Not an expert on UK politics, but I've been reading lots of speculation that another government with no obvious way out and a nuclear arsenal may launch a nuclear attack to try to save itself. Odds Liz Truss may try the same stunt?

[HisMajestyBOB]

Can you imagine what Ed Miliband chaos would look like? You guys really dodged a bullet there!

[Admiral Yi]

Again it's mad the government made this the hill to die on because the fracking companies have said they don't think it's commercially viable in the UK anyway

One could as easily ask why Labor felt the need to propose a useless bill.

[Sheilbh]

Again it's mad the government made this the hill to die on because the fracking companies have said they don't think it's commercially viable in the UK anyway

One could as easily ask why Labor felt the need to propose a useless bill.

It was an opposition day motion. You can see why they did it - it caused absolute chaos for the government.

They highlighted unpopular government policy and used their day to force Tory MPs to stand behind it or the government to abandon their stated policy.

It seems like a very effective bit of opposition politics to me.