Shortly after the vote, there were reports that the chief whip, Wendy Morton, and her deputy, Craig Whittaker, had lost their jobs. However, Downing Street later cleared up the rumors saying the couple “remain in place”. The government’s victory, with 326 votes against Labour’s motion to 230 for it, was marred by allegations of bullying and intimidation on a turbulent night in the Commons. While ministers successfully rejected Labour’s motion, which sought to set up a vote that would formally ban shale gas drilling in England, a total of 40 Tory MPs failed to support the government. While some, such as Boris Johnson, are simply away, the rebels included Tory MPs who had promised to defy a three-line whip, including Chris Skidmore, the former minister leading the Truss’ review of net zero policies. Other confirmed rebels included another former minister Tracey Crouch and MPs including William Wragg and Angela Richardson. No Tories voted directly with Labour. Tory whips had written to MPs in the morning to warn that the vote was seen as a confidence vote, meaning the government would collapse if it lost and the rebels would lose the whip. But near the end of the debate, with several MPs saying they would risk losing the whip, Climate Secretary Graham Stewart told MPs: “This is clearly not a vote of confidence.” Shortly after the vote, Labor MP Chris Bryant used a point of order to tell the Commons that he saw Tory MPs being “physically dragged” into the government’s election lobby. He called for an official investigation. In the aftermath of the chaos, Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, was seen trying to calm a group of mostly female MPs who had gathered to discuss what they had witnessed. Mordaunt was seen encouraging witnesses to send her evidence or more details on WhatsApp. A Tory supporter said it was “the most bullying, shouting and shouting” they had seen in the voting lobbies, with Morton and Whittaker engaged in a “full-on shouting match”. Another said Whittaker was seen telling colleagues: “I’m furious and I’m not batting an eye.” Whips were then said to have gathered for an emergency meeting, with several parliamentary private secretaries deciding they would tell Morton and Whittaker off. Veteran Tory supporter Charles Walker, who is set to stand down as an MP at the next election, said the scenes on Wednesday were “inexcusable”. “I think it’s a shambles and a disgrace,” a visibly shaken Walker told the BBC, before condemning the “unwavering” people in the cabinet. Tory MP visibly furious at party chaos: ‘the damage they’ve done is extraordinary’ – video He added: “I’m angry and I really shouldn’t say this, but everyone who put Liz Truss in No 10, I hope it was worth it, it was worth it for the ministerial red box, as it was worth it. to sit around the cabinet, because the damage they have done to our party is extraordinary.” However, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the business and energy secretary, disputed this, pointing to the government’s majority in the vote. He said: “This is a government that works well.” The crib risks masking a potentially even more significant Tory fracture with many government MPs concerned about the Truss’ decision to overturn England’s fracking moratorium. Skidmore, a leading voice of the Tory Greens, earlier said he was willing to “face the consequences of my decision” not to support the government, even if it meant losing the whip. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “As a former energy secretary who signed net zero into law, for the sake of our environment and climate, I personally cannot vote tonight to support fracking and undermine the commitments I made in the 2019 general election,” he tweeted. . Crouch retweeted Skidmore’s message with the addition of the word, “Ditto,” as did Richardson. Despite Rees-Mogg’s attempts to quell MPs’ anger by holding a public consultation on fracking, a number of other Tories had told the debate they were furious at the policy change. Some said they would only support the government because they felt Labor was trying to “play politics” with a proposal that would give the opposition control of the order paper. Ruth Edwards, MP for Rushcliffe, blamed the Tory frontbench for what she said was forcing her and her colleagues to “choose between voting against our manifesto and voting to lose the whip”. He added: “They should take a look at the faces of colleagues behind them, colleagues who have fracking sites in their constituencies and they should hang their heads in shame. A Conservative government will always have my trust, but its leadership today has severely tested my trust and the trust of many colleagues and I would advise them not to do it again.” Simon Hoare, the MP for North Dorset, said he would have rebelled but wanted to keep his “voice and vote” as a Tory. He warned, however, that fracking was doomed as a project. “It’s not going to happen. These are bald guys fighting over a comb. No local community is going to consent,” he said. Ed Miliband, the shadow climate and net zero secretary, said the government was pursuing a “frack me or fire me” strategy, saying fracking was “one of the most unpopular causes in the country”. He added: “In normal times such a stupid idea would have been dismissed out of hand, but these are not normal times. But I say to the house and I say to members across the way, everyone knows that the prime minister will be gone in a matter of weeks, if not days, if not hours.” The Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto promised to maintain a moratorium on fracking unless there was new evidence of the earthquake risk from the practice. But the Truss government changed that last month. In a message to all MPs on Wednesday morning, Whittaker had said: “The second debate is the main event today and it is a 100% hard three-line whip. This is not a movement for fracking. This is a vote of confidence in the government.” Labor sources said Tory whips walked into a trap set for them and that, although they did not expect to win the vote, the opposition had online ads ready to target any Tory MP who supported fracking.
