Chief Whip out as government folds on fracking revolt

Yet another moment of high drama in the Commons. Wendy Morton has now left the post of chief whip after the government folded on the opposition day fracking vote being treated as a ‘confidence issue’. MPs were warned they would lose the Tory whip if they didn’t vote with the government. One MP who witnessed Morton walking past with the Prime Minister’s PPS, tells me: ‘She’s as mad as thunder and is saying ‘unbelievable’.’ Craig Whittaker has just come out of the lobby and said ‘I am fucking furious and I don’t give a fuck anymore.’

Chris Bryant has just alleged that he witnessed ‘bullying’ of MPs in the voting lobbies. With minutes to go before the vote, the minister winding up the debate told the chamber that ‘quite clearly this is not a confidence vote’. Graham Stuart was immediately accosted by one of his own colleagues, Ruth Edwards, who insisted that she and others had been told they would lose the whip if they abstained or voted against the government. Stuart replied, cryptically, that this was a matter for party managers.