Liz Truss resigns latest: Johnson ‘extends olive branch’ to Sunak as he ‘considers leadership bid’

The Ukrainian government’s Twitter page has waded into the debate over who should succeed Liz Truss as prime minister.

In reference to Netflix programme Better Call Saul, it posted a graphic with Boris Johnson’s face featuring text reading: “Better Call Boris.”

The former prime minister was popular in Kyiv for his full-throated support for Ukraine’s defence against the Russian invasion.

Liz Truss‘s aides would concoct stories about family members dying in order to get the top Tory out of television appearances, it has been claimed.

Kirsty Buchanan, who worked for the new prime minister when she was justice secretary, said Ms Truss did not like doing media.

“She didn’t like the media, so we used to spend quite a lot of time making up excuses and killing off minor members of her family so she didn’t have to go on Question Time,” Ms Buchanan, a former political journalist who has also worked in No 10 said.

Speaking on the Whitehall Sources podcast, the ex-aide clarified : “Only minor people like aunts and cousins and things – I’m not talking about major members of the family.”

Eventually Ms Buchanan said Ms Truss’s team “ran out of excuses” and the Tory MP had to appear on the flagship BBC politics programme.

Michael Howard, leader of the Tories from 2003-05, said he does not think party members should have the final say in electing Liz Truss’s successor.

“We are a parliamentary democracy and it’s in the House of Commons that these matters should be decided,” he said, adding that he tried to change Tory party rules while leader to end the membership vote.

Boris Johnson’s father Stanley has said he hopes his son will run to become prime minister again.

Mr Johnson senior told TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored: “Frankly I have no idea whether Boris is going to be a candidate in this election, no idea at all, but I think he has a very strong record to be considered as a viable candidate and I very much hope he will let his name go forward.”

Despite his son’s divisive reputation, Mr Johnson insisted that he could be a unifying force within the Conservative Party if he won.

“Boris is my elder son. He’s going to be crucial in uniting these warring parts of the Tory party,” he said.

Tory party chiefs have moved to speed up the contest to replace Liz Truss by requiring candidates to have the support of 100 MPs to enter it (Andrew Woodcock writes).

The threshold – much higher than the 20 nominations needed last time – could also keep Boris Johnson out of the race, after he signalled his hopes of making a sensational return.

If only one MP gains 100 nominations, they will become prime minister immediately, with no contest.

Many Tories are hoping for such a “coronation” to prevent party members having a say on the next leader – but Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch and others are ready to run.

“We fixed a high threshold but a threshold that should be achievable by any serious candidate who has a prospect of going through,” chair of the 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, said.

Any Tory standing to replace Liz Truss must rule out fracking “once and for all”, former energy minister Chris Skidmore said, after the prime minister’s lifted the moratorium on the controversial fossil fuel extraction method.

A Commons vote on fracking last night laid bare the tumult in the Tory party, with reports of MPs being manhandled to vote with the government to defeat a Labour amendment seeking to ban drilling for shale gas in the UK.

Defence minister Baroness Goldie has issued reassurance that, whoever takes over from Liz Truss as prime minister, the UK will remain steadfast in its resolve to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal invasion.

When asked in the House of Lords whether she could provide certainty on this issue, Lady Goldie said: “Let me say, without a shadow of a doubt, yes.

“We have demonstrated, not just our political and our national will to support a country in peril, in need, and the victim of a quite outrageous breach of international law with this illegal incursion, we have demonstrated by deed what we are prepared to do by ourselves and in conjunction with Nato partners and with other allies across the globe as we assist Ukraine in defending itself against this really quite appalling and totally unjustified invasion.”

She added: “Our tumult within the UK is troubling and it is distracting, but I think to put things into context, the problems confronting President Zelensky are of a very different magnitude and none of us should ever forget that, living in a democracy.”

Some former ministers have reason to be cheerful today as Liz Truss’s departure leaves them better poised to return to government.

Lizzie Dearden, The Independent’s home affairs editor, says she has heard the term “Venn diagram of doom” to describe cabinet ministers who resigned over Boris Johnson then backed Rishi Sunak, so damaging their chances in the Truss government.