"The prime minister is not under a desk." The day power drained away from Liz Truss

[muriel_volestrangler]

When it was announced that Penny Mordaunt had offered to stand in for Liz Truss in response to an urgent Commons question over the economic crisis on Monday, some Conservative MPs thought it was a joke.

“Why is she asking one of her biggest rivals for the job to take her place? She’ll totally show her up,” one said. It was hard to see the cabinet minister’s performance on Monday afternoon as anything other than an audition for the top job.
...
Nevertheless, it was Truss’s refusal to show up and face MPs herself – despite unleashing chaos on the party, the economy and the country – that most riled MPs. Mordaunt repeatedly assured them there was a “genuine reason” why she was not there. In one particularly bizarre exchange, she insisted: “The prime minister is not under a desk.”

But where was she? Truss was, the Guardian revealed, holed up with Sir Graham Brady, the powerful chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, in her Commons office. Downing Street sources claimed it was a planned meeting, rather than a crisis talk, but conceded it was inevitable that her fragile position would have come up.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/17/jeremy-hunt-latest-tory-u-turn-liz-truss

The Guardian's Commons sketch - written with tongue in cheek:

The opposition still wanted to know what conditions Librium Liz was being kept in. Mordaunt became even more gnomic. First she that Truss had been desperate to take the UQ but had been prevented from doing so. Volodymyr Zelenskiy had left her on hold, presumably. Then she was desperate to be able to say why Liz was incapacitated but would have to kill herself and everyone else if she broke the omertà. Then she declared: “The prime minister is not hiding under a desk.” So she was under the bed, then. Or in Boris Johnson’s fridge.

At which point, Librium Liz meandered into the chamber. Her eyes vacant, unblinking. A rigid smile. As if her minders had rather overmedicated her. As if she had no idea she was now starring in her own hostage video. She went to sit next to Hunt. Her captor. And just sat there mindlessly, devoid of emotion, as first Rachel Reeves and then her hostage taker rubbished her reputation. The markets may have been reassured, but the Tories would still be punished by the voters. They wouldn’t forget.

As silently as she had arrived, Truss pootled off after less than 20 minutes. It had been a Scandi noir cameo, with the killers in plain sight. A few Labour MPs shouted after her. Was she really OK? Just give us a sign. Any sign. Just a word. Nothing. The Tories ignored her. She was an aberration. A past tense. The last few weeks had just been a bad dream. Onwards with the new regime. To oblivion.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/17/liz-truss-jeremy-hunt-penny-mordaunt

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. "Librium Liz".

[malaise]

3. Hehehe

Beautifully written😀

[malaise]

2. Brutal and perfect

At which point, Librium Liz meandered into the chamber. Her eyes vacant, unblinking. A rigid smile. As if her minders had rather overmedicated her. As if she had no idea she was now starring in her own hostage video. She went to sit next to Hunt. Her captor. And just sat there mindlessly, devoid of emotion, as first Rachel Reeves and then her hostage taker rubbished her reputation. The markets may have been reassured, but the Tories would still be punished by the voters. They wouldn’t forget.

[Demsrule86]

4. The Tories need to go...just like us if they don't stop them and for us stop the GOP, we are done.