James Heale

The government won tonight’s vote on fracking but it truly was a Pyrrhic victory. On paper, the numbers involved – 315 'noes' to ban fracking for shale gas versus 228 'ayes' – might suggest a well-oiled whipping machine. But it was the carnage within the House of Commons that everyone was talking about tonight. Opposition MPs are full of indignation at the scenes they claim to have seen in the voting lobbies tonight. Labour’s Chris Bryant told Sky that he saw four Tory MPs, including Deputy PM Thérèse Coffey and her colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg, physically man-handle a colleague of their party into their voting lobby. He added that he has photo evidence on his phone.

'Loyalty' remarked Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe is 'the Tory party's secret weapon.' The near constant blue-on-blue attacks of the last six years have made a mockery of this aphorism. But Liz Truss's first cabinet has demonstrated the importance which she places on loyalty when it comes to selecting her top team. Some 31 names are now attending cabinet; of those just one (Michael Ellis) backed Rishi Sunak. New leaders are entitled to select who they want –⁠ Boris Johnson fired half the ministers upon taking office in 2019 and ruthlessly purged Jeremy Hunt's supporters from his top team.

It was the endorsement that they were all after. Ben Wallace, the most popular member of Boris Johnson's cabinet has finally named his preferred candidate to be Britain's next Prime Minister: Liz Truss. The current Defence Secretary, who has won plaudits for his handling of the Ukraine crisis, has given an interview to the Sun in which he extols Truss's virtues. Wallace, who has worked closely with Truss to counter Russia's aggression, told the newspaper that: What you see is what you get with Liz and that is what the public wants more than ever at this moment. She’s authentic. She’s honest. And she’s experienced. I’ve sat next to Liz in the Cabinet for two and a half years. I’ve sat next to her in National Security Councils.

Ahead of tonight’s Channel 4 debate, the five remaining Tory leadership candidates appeared on Zoom for the first public hustings, hosted by the ConservativeHome website. But none really secured a knockout blow, owing in part to the format of the debate – and the reluctance of each to launch into out and out attacks. Instead, the main fight was on policy, not personality, following some hostile briefings in newspapers over the past 48 hours. And the most ambitious candidate on the policy front was Liz Truss, keen to regain momentum after finishing third behind Penny Mordaunt on the first two ballots.

There were three leadership launches in Westminster this morning. Rishi Sunak, the frontrunner, spoke at the QEII Centre; Kemi Badenoch, the rising star, pitched to Policy Exchange. But what of Tom Tugendhat, the longtime backbencher, kicking off his campaign at the BBC's Westminster studios? How best to describe his place in the Tory leadership race? The former army officer's appearance this morning epitomised his strengths and weaknesses within a crowded field. His speech was prepared and heavy on policy: his pitch stressed integrity and the need to win public trust.

The big winner from yesterday's drama was Nadhim Zahawi. Just ten months ago he was a junior minister: now he holds the second most powerful position in government. The newly-appointed Chancellor has today done his first round of interviews, appearing across a range of outlets to outline his plans for the Treasury. As Kate Andrews write elsewhere on Coffee House, a key faultline between Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson was fiscal responsibility. The former was unwilling to support spending increases without corresponding tax hikes: the latter is keen to cut taxes without slashing spending. Zahawi has already signalled he will be less evangelical about these issues than Sunak, hinting on Sky News this morning that next year's planned corporation tax rise could be shelved.

Boris Johnson has left the country - but that hasn’t stopped him from annoying his backbenchers. The Prime Minister is visiting Ukraine today to meet with President Zelensky. He’s announced that the UK will expand its training capacity for Ukrainian forces to process up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days. That ought to be a visit that wins universal applause within the Tory party. Yet while there is near-unanimity across the Conservative parliamentary party at the need to support Kyiv’s struggle against Russia, some are unhappy with the timing of Johnson’s announcement and sudden trip abroad. The Prime Minister was due to speak today at the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs.

A Conservative MP has been arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault offences. According to the Sun, which broke the story today, the unnamed male Tory currently remains in custody, after being arrested for alleged sexual offences committed between 2002 and 2009 in London. Police first received a report of the allegations in January 2020 and have conducted a two-year investigation into the claims. The unnamed MP faces suspension from the party while detectives from the Central Specialist Crime unit investigate. The Chief Whip, Chris Heaton Harris, has already asked the MP to stay away from the House of Commons while an investigation is being carried out.