Home Secretary departs UK govt in new blow to embattled Liz Truss

Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss holds a press conference in the Downing Street Briefing Room as she tries to hang on to her job after weeks of turmoil on financial markets. Photo / Daniel Leal via AP

British Prime Minister Liz Truss described herself as “a fighter and not a quitter” Wednesday as she faced down hostile opposition and fury from her own Conservative Party over her botched economic plan.

Yet the grim faces of Conservative lawmakers behind her in the House of Commons suggested that Truss faces an uphill struggle to save her job.

Within hours of Truss’ appearance in Parliament for a regular session titled Prime Minister’s Questions, a senior member of her government left her post with a fusillade of criticism.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she resigned after breaching rules by sending an official document from her personal email account. In her resignation letter, Braverman said she had “concerns about the direction of this government” and — in a thinly veiled attack on Truss — said “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 politics.”

Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman at the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham on October 4. Photo / Aaron Chown via AP

Braverman is a popular figure on the Conservative Party’s right-wing and a champion of more restrictive immigration policies.

Her departure comes days after Truss fired her Treasury chief, Kwasi Kwarteng, on Friday after the economic package the pair drew up spooked financial markets when it was announced on September 23.

The plan’s £45 billion ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts sparked turmoil on financial markets, hammering the value of the pound and increasing the cost of UK government borrowing. The Bank of England was forced to intervene to prevent the crisis from spreading to the wider economy and putting pension funds at risk.

Truss attended her first session of Prime Minister’s Questions since Kwarteng’s replacement, Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt, ripped up the tax-cutting package unveiled by her new government less than a month ago.

She apologised to Parliament and admitted she had made mistakes during her short tenure as the UK’s head of government, but insisted that by changing course she had “taken responsibility and made the right decisions in the interest of the country’s economic stability”.

Opposition lawmakers shouted “Resign!” as she spoke.

Asked by opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, “Why is she still here?” Truss retorted: “I am a fighter and not a quitter. I have acted in the national interest to make sure that we have economic stability.”

People walk past a Belfast mural by artist Ciaran Gallagher, left, which has been updated to reflect Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss' political troubles. Photo / Liam McBurney via AP

On Monday Hunt scrapped almost all of Truss’ tax cuts, along with her flagship energy policy and her promise of no public spending cuts. He said the government will need to save billions of pounds and there are “many difficult decisions” to be made before he sets out a medium-term fiscal plan on Oct. 31.

Official figures showed UK inflation rose to 10.1 per cent in September, returning to a 40-year high first hit in July, as the soaring cost of food squeezed household budgets. While inflation is high around the world — driven up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effect on energy supplies — polls show most Britons blame the government for the country’s economic pain.

Opponents also accuse the Conservative government of sowing chaos by flip-flopping on policy. On Wednesday, Truss reassured retirees that pensions would continue to rise in line with inflation — less than 24 hours after her spokesman said the government was considering removing the expensive pledge as it seeks to cut public spending.

With opinion polls giving the Labour Party a large and growing lead, many Conservatives now believe their only hope of avoiding electoral oblivion is to replace Truss. But she insists she is not stepping down, and legislators are divided about how to get rid of her.

New Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged Conservatives to give Truss another chance, saying “mistakes happen”.

“What you’ve got to do is recognise when they’ve happened and have humility to make changes when you see things didn’t go right,” he said.

Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office leaves 10 Downing Street as British Prime Minister Liz Truss struggles to retain her authority. Photo / Frank Augstein, AP

Truss faces another test in Parliament later Wednesday when lawmakers vote on a Labour Party motion seeking to ban fracking for shale gas — a policy that Truss recently approved.

Conservative Party whips said the vote would be treated as “a confidence motion in the government,” meaning the government would fall if the motion passed, triggering an election. The Conservatives’ 70-plus majority makes that unlikely, but the vote will be closely watched for signs of dissent about Truss’ leadership.

Truss’ press secretary said the prime minister was “not resigning” and was in a “determined” mood.

A national election does not have to be held until 2024. Truss on Wednesday appeared to rule out calling an early election, saying “what is important is we work together ... to get through this winter and protect the economy”.

The Bank of England in the financial district in the City of London. Photo / Alberto Pezzali, AP

Under Conservative Party rules, Truss is safe from a leadership challenge for a year, but the rules can be changed if enough lawmakers want it. There is fevered speculation about how many lawmakers have already submitted letters calling for a no-confidence vote.

Some Conservative legislators believe Truss could be forced to resign if the party agrees on a successor.

As yet, there is no front-runner. Truss’ defeated Conservative leadership rival Rishi Sunak, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and popular Defence Secretary Ben Wallace all have supporters, as does Hunt, who many see as the de facto prime minister already.

Some even favour the return of Boris Johnson, who was ousted in the summer after becoming enmeshed in ethics scandals.

Cleverly said he understood why colleagues were angry but said “defenestrating another prime minister” was the wrong thing to do.