British Prime Minister Liz Truss is fighting to hold on to her job after her interior minister resigned and Conservative legislators openly quarrelled in parliament over a vote on fracking for shale gas.

The departure of Suella Braverman on Wednesday — over a “technical” breach of government rules — means Truss has now lost two of her most senior ministers in less than a week, both replaced by politicians who had not backed her for the leadership.

Braverman said she resigned after breaching rules by sending an official document from her personal email account. She used her resignation letter to lambast Truss, saying she had “concerns about the direction of this government”.

“The business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes,” she said. “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.”

Braverman is a popular figure on the Conservative Party’s right wing and a champion of more restrictive immigration policies who ran unsuccessfully for party leader, a contest won by Truss in early September.

Braverman was replaced as home secretary, the minister responsible for immigration and law and order, by former Cabinet minister Grant Shapps.

He is a high-profile supporter of Rishi Sunak, the former Treasury chief defeated by Truss in the final round of the Conservative leadership race.

Source Al Jazeera

BDST: 1119 HRS, OCT 20, 2022
MSK