Harrogate MP speaks on ‘personal tragedy’ of Liz Truss’s demise and why the country needs stability

The MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough expressed some sympathy for the departing Truss, despite having voted for Rishi Sunak in the last Tory Party leadership contest less than two months ago, saying it was a “personal tragedy” for her.

“It is a very sad day for Liz Truss but we should take a few moments to reflect on a human level the personal tragedy for her,” said Mr Jones.

"She has spent much of her life with political ambition wanting to serve the country as its Prime Minister.

"I am sure today she is having a range of emotions right now from sorrow to relief to anger.”

But Mr Jones, who would not be drawn on who he supports to be the fourth Prime Minister in just three years, said her decision was inevitable under the pressure she had created throuigh her “unforced error”.

“As difficult as today is for her it has, I’m afraid, been inevitable and it is the national interest that matters,” Mr Jones continued.

"It was an enormous and unforced error to bring forward the mini-Budget without an assessment by the Office of Budget Responsibility and an accompanying statement on departmental spending.

“It was a mistake for her to surround herself with just supporters and not form a broader-based team.”

Mr Jones, who is a member of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs that regulates leadership elections, says what the party and the country needed now was a period of calm.

“Ms Truss began to undo the damage with the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor who jettisoned a lot of the mistakes she had made, calmed the markets and emphasised the need for stability,” said Mr Jones.

“But the personal damage to her was done and too severe for her to have any hope of recovery.

"That is why she had to go. It has felt in Parliament that over the last week her authority had been seeping away.

“Her successor needs to bring on board all the talents available to them.

"Our politics and our country need a period of calm stability and I look forward, at last, to that being delivered.”

It is now expected that a new Prime Minister will be elected by next week by the Tories after the fall of Liz Truss after 45 days in office.

Current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has already said he will not run in the contest.

The frontrunners are expected to include the likes of Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and, just possibly, Boris Johnson.

In July Andrew Jones called on then Prime Minister Boris Johnson to 'read the room' and resign.

Talking about the Partygate scandal at the time, Mr Jones said he was “intensely depressed” by leaders’ behaviour.

“I understand the anger people feel. I feel it, too.

"Most of all I feel intensely depressed that senior people in our political system have pretended, or somehow genuinely believed, that tables groaning with bottles of wine, as we have seen pictured, were in some way allowed work practices.

“I think there is a rotten element within our political system, and the leaders of the political classes have let us down.”