Liz Truss' government in meltdown as top minister quits

Britain's interior minister quit on Wednesday with a broadside at Liz Truss before her lawmakers openly quarrelled in parliament, underscoring the erosion of the prime minister's authority after just weeks in the job. The departure of Home Secretary Suella Braverman — she cited 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. Hours after the resignation, lawmakers openly rowed and jostled amid confusion over whether a vote on fracking was a confidence vote in her administration. Opposition parliamentarians complained that Truss's politicians were being manhandled to make them vote with the government. Meanwhile there was confusion over whether or not two MPs responsible for Conservative Party discipline had quit their posts. "I'm not entirely clear on what the situation is," said Business minister Jacob Rees-Mogg when asked on television. After hours of uncertainty, Downing Street said they were still in their jobs, but the episode illustrated the confusion in government and underscored the prime minister's faltering authority. Confirming her departure, Braverman said she had broken the rules by sending an official document from her personal email to a parliamentary colleague. But she added she had serious concerns about the government and that just hoping problems would go away was not a viable approach. "I have made a mistake, I accept responsibility, I resign," she said in a letter to the prime minister. As a replacement, Truss appointed former minister Grant Shapps, who said recently that Truss faced a massive battle to survive. He also failed to offer a ringing endorsement of the prime minister. On arrival at his new workplace, Shapps admitted the government had "obviously had a very difficult period." But he added, referring to Truss's new finance minister: "Jeremy Hunt, I think, has done a great job of settling the issues relating to that mini budget." Media reports suggested Truss and Braverman may have clashed over immigration. Braverman, who said recently that she dreamt of seeing asylum seekers being deported to Rwanda, has advocated a hard line on immigration numbers. Truss had suggested restrictions could be lifted in some sections of the economy; as Hunt works to find ways to boost the economy, easing immigration rules further could be one option. (Source BBC)