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UPDATE: Liz Truss sensationally resigns after 1922 Committee showdown

By Vickie Scullard • Updated: 21 Oct 2022 • 13:04

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Image of Liz Truss. Credit: ComposedPix/Shutterstock.com

Liz Truss has resigned as UK Prime Minister after meeting with 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady in Downing Street today.

15.50 – Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer calls for a general election

Speaking to journalists, Sir Kier said: “Well, what a mess. This is not just a soap opera at the top of the Tory party – it’s doing huge damage to our economy and to the reputation of our country.

“And the public are paying with higher prices, with higher mortgages, so we can’t have a revolving door of chaos, we can’t have another experiment at the top of the Tory party.

“There is an alternative – that’s a stable Labour government. The public are entitled to their say, and that’s why there should be a general election.”

This follows a statement he released earlier today.

15.20 – Statement from Sir Graham Brady

Sir Graham said this “isn’t a situation” he hoped to see.

He said: “I have spoken to the party chairman Jake Berry and he has confirmed that it will be possible to conduct a ballot and conclude a leadership election by Friday, October 28.

“So we should have a new leader in place before the fiscal statement, which will take place on October 31.”

Sir Graham said if there are two candidates, it will go to the membership.

14.38 – Leadership election ‘within the next week’

Ms Truss has spoken to King Charles to tender her resignation, saying that the leadership election is “to be completed within the next week.”

14.35 – Liz Truss resigns as UK Prime Minister

She is on her 45th day in power after succeeding Boris Johnson.

She says she recognises she “cannot deliver the mandate” on which she was elected.

14.30 – PM ‘to resign’

Sky News has reported that Prime Minister Liz Truss is about to resign.

Political editor Beth Rigby has been told by a Number 10 source that “it’s all over”.

14.27 – Seventeenth Tory MP calls for resignation

Paul Holmes has become the 17th MP to call for Liz Truss to resign.

He tweeted: “I joined the Conservative Party to deliver for the great people of this country.

“The prime minister cannot do that. The last few days have left me in despair.

“I believe the prime minister should resign and have written my letter to Sir Graham Brady.”

14.20 – A statement from Number 10 imminent 

A statement will be given in around 15 minutes, Number 10 has just confirmed.

This comes as Liz Truss meets with 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, deputy prime minister Therese Coffey, and Tory party chairman Jake Berry.

14.18 – List of Tory MPs who have called for Liz Truss’ resignation

The list of MPs includes:

  1. Crispin Blunt
  2. Andrew Bridgen
  3. Jamie Wallis
  4. Angela Richardson
  5. Charles Walker
  6. William Wragg
  7. Johnny Mercer
  8. Maria Caulfield
  9. Steve Double
  10. Gary Streeter
  11. Sheryll Murray
  12. Miriam Cates
  13. Henry Smith
  14. Matthew Offord

Not included in the list below are the most recent MPs, Jill Mortimer, and Ruth Edwards.

14.12 – Fifteenth Tory MP calls for Liz Truss to resign

Jill Mortimer has become the 15th Tory MP to call for Liz Truss to go after posting her resignation letter on her Facebook page.

She says she submitted a letter of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady – dated yesterday –  after she was not called in Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday.

She said: “Dear Sir Graham, it is with deep regret I write to inform you that I have no confidence in the competence of the current prime minister Liz Truss.

“I would therefore like to add my support to the call for a vote of no confidence.”

14.08 – ‘Prime Minister by name’

A senior party source told Beth Rigby from Sky News that they understand any change of rules to impose a candidate or change thresholds for nominations (so Tory MPs could decide the next party leader instead of party members) would need to go to the party board. 

The source claims Liz Truss is now “PINO” – PM in name only – until this rule change is sorted.

14.05 – A Number 10 source says that Liz Truss invited Sir Graham Brady into Downing Street to “take the temperature” of the party.

“This is down to the number of MPs speaking out which keeps going up,” the text reads, but the former minister reckons that “until there’s a removal plan she will stay”. 

The minister has worked with Ms Truss and adds: “I still can’t see her going quietly.”

13.50 – The 1922 Committee of Tory MPs sets the rules for selecting and changing the leader of the party.

The prime minister’s position is in jeopardy just weeks after she was appointed, following a U-turn on her controversial mini-budget that crashed the country’s currency and unsettled financial markets.

This led to the firing of her finance minister and closest political ally, chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, followed by Suella Braverman who was forced to resign as UK home secretary.

Today the PM’s spokesman says Truss will lead Tories into next election – but he wasn’t aware of her meeting with Brady, according to Sky News.

The spokesman said: “I think you can see how seriously the prime minister takes this as an issue. 

“She has acted, and though I wouldn’t normally get into political stuff and political individuals, you know that there is an ongoing investigation. So I’m not going to comment further.”

Following the departure of Ms Braverman, the prime minister’s spokesman could not commit to the government reducing net migration.

They said: “The public wants us to control immigration and ensure we have a system worked in the UK is interest. That is our guiding principle.”

Speaking of whether Ms Truss was about to break the manifesto pledge to reduce overall migration, the spokesman repeated: “We have a commitment to control immigration, that we recognise that alongside that, stability and growing the economy are important; the government is considering how best to set that balance, and we will come forward and more detail.”

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Vickie S
Written by

Vickie Scullard

A journalist of more than 12 years from Manchester, UK, Vickie now lives in Madrid and works as a news writer for the Euro Weekly News.

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