Penny Mordaunt

He thanked Ms Mordaunt for answering the question put to the Prime Minister, saying: “I guess under this Tory Government, everybody gets to be Prime Minister ...

Surely time’s up, she needs to go and let the people decide.” The lady is not for turning – up.” But where is the Prime Minister? She eventually took a seat in the chamber alongside Mr Hunt shortly before he began his statement to MPs. In response to a question from the Labour MP Jess Phillips, she said: “I fully appreciate the optics of me appearing at the dispatch box, but there is a very genuine reason why the Prime Minister is not here today. She added: “Can the leader of the House tell us exactly where on earth is the Prime Minister and if she doesn’t even have the backbone to show up here today, is there really any point in her showing up here again.

The Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt stood in for the Prime Minister to answer questions from the opposition.

It was the right thing to do. “She did not hesitate to do so because her focus is on the wellbeing of every one of our citizens. She defended the Prime Minister’s decision to change Chancellor, saying it was the “right thing to do” and “it took courage”. But Ms Mordaunt said Ms Truss was “not under a desk”, defending the Tory leader for failing to show up and address MPs. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer mocked Liz Truss for not turning up to answer the urgent question, saying “the lady is not for turning – up”. The sources also stressed that the Prime Minister had “lots else on” and that no PM had responded to an urgent question since David Cameron in April 2012.

Librium Liz appeared for a brief, silent cameo in the Commons as her captors, Jeremy Hunt and Penny Mordaunt, held court.

As if she had no idea she was now starring in her own hostage video. 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. So brave that she couldn’t even bother to turn up to the Commons to explain in person why she had done it. First she that Truss had been desperate to take the UQ but had been prevented from doing so. Was she OK? But what could she do when the Tories had chosen a halfwit? It had been a hugely courageous thing Truss had done to sack one of her best friends, Mordaunt insisted, just about keeping a straight face. Was she being looked after? Then, he wasn’t just the new chancellor of the exchequer; he was the de facto prime minister. It was a measured act of stability. The same Jeremy Hunt who had taken the NHS to the brink while health secretary. But it was a coup nonetheless.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer mocked Ms Truss as he said: 'The lady is not for turning – up.'

MPs had repeatedly asked about the whereabouts of the Prime Minister, with Ms Mordaunt at one stage saying: “I can’t disclose the reasons. The Commons Leader said: “I don’t think there has been a coup. Surely time’s up, she needs to go and let the people decide.”