Suella Braverman to step down as Home Secretary

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Members of the Tory party are putting together a legal team to prevent MPs from replacing embattled Liz Truss with a “quad of wets” led by Jeremy Hunt. Express.co.uk has been informed by a senior member of the European Research Group (ERG) that any attempt at a coup without having a full leadership election will end up in the courts.

It comes as former Remainers on the left of the party are pushing a so-called “quad” leadership team of Mr Hunt, who was installed as Chancellor last week, Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove.

It comes after attempts by Mr Hunt to force a massive reshuffle which would have seen Brexiteers and allies of the Prime Minister purged from the Government have been seen off.

The senior Brexit backbencher told Express.co.uk: “I know that members of the voluntary party are now taking advice about the leadership issue.

“If there is an attempt to have a coronation without a vote by members then it will definitely end up in the courts.

“The plotters need to understand that they will face a year of legal action with nobody knowing who is Prime Minister if they try.”

Meanwhile, a Cabinet minister has confirmed that one or more of the Brexiteers at the top table will stand against “the quad of wets”.

The senior minister said: “There will be a challenge, we will not just stand by and let them take over our party.”

It comes as David Canzini, who has been brought in by chief of staff Mark Fullbrook to save the Prime Minister, has been told to threaten MPs with an election “if they try to force a change of leadership or reshuffle”.

But Ms Truss’s shaky premiership was rocked this evening by the departure of Suella Braverman, who is popular with the right of the party, as Home Secretary.

Ms Braverman said she had quit after making a “technical infringement” of the rules by sending an official document from a personal email, but blasted the “direction” of the Government.

In a clear dig at the Prime Minister after the mini-budget sparked weeks of turmoil, she said in her resignation letter: “I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign.

“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.

“It is obvious to everyone that we are going through a tumultuous time.”

Former transport secretary Grant Shapps, who backed Mr Sunak in the Tory leadership race and has been a fierce critic of Ms Truss, has replaced Ms Braverman. 

Earlier on Wednesday, the Prime Minister made a last-minute cancellation of a trip out of Westminster where she would have faced media questions.

Ms Truss, who is battling stay in her job amid intense Tory plotting, made a public apology in the Commons at lunchtime as she was grilled at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Her credibility was shredded after the new Chancellor – who was parachuted into No11 after the sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng – on Monday reversed almost all of the tax cuts in the mini-budget, which spooked financial markets.

Ms Truss told MPs: “I have been very clear that I am sorry and that I have made mistakes.

“The right thing to do in those circumstances is to make changes, which I have made, and to get on with the job and deliver for the British people.”

There is speculation that the chairman of the powerful Tory backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady had already received more than 54 letters calling for a confidence vote in the Prime Minister – the threshold for triggering one if she was not in the 12 months’ grace period for new leaders.

It comes after Mr Gove, who backed Mr Sunak in the Tory leadership election, said it was a matter of if not when Ms Truss is ousted.

In remarks reported by the Guardian, the Tory heavyweight told an event: “The question for any leader is what happens when the programme or the platform on which you secured the leadership has been shredded.”

A snap poll of Tory members released on Tuesday saw more than half say that Ms Truss should resign and 83 percent say she was doing a bad job.

Tory MPs are understood to believe it is inevitable that the Prime Minister will go, but have not united around a replacement.

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