A Labour MP said he saw "utterly desperate" Tory MPs "crying on my shoulder" following yesterday's Commons' chaos.
Chris Bryant, MP for Rhondda and chair of the Committees on Standards and Privileges, made the extraordinary claims on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The MP of 21 years said he'd never seen scenes like the ones that unfolded ahead of the fracking vote in the House of Commons yesterday evening.
In extraordinary scenes at Westminster, Cabinet ministers Therese Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg were among a group of senior Conservatives accused of pressuring colleagues to go into the "no" lobby, with Mr Bryant saying some MPs had been "physically manhandled". The chaotic scenes followed Prime Minister Liz Truss's shambolic Prime Minister's Questions appearance - and Home Secretary Suella Braverman's extraordinary resignation.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer destroys Liz Truss with brutal first question
Speaking on the fracking vote, which was voted through with a majority of 96, Mr Bryant said he saw up to 20 MPs all "surrounding a couple of Conservative MPs who were wavering as to how they should vote". The Labour MP added: "It was very aggressive, very angry, there was a lot of shouting, there was a lot pointing, gesticulating, there was at least one hand on another MP, and to me that was clear bullying, intimidation.
"I saw a whole swathe of MPs effectively pushing one member straight through the door and I've seen photographic evidence of one MP's hand on another." Mr Bryant said other Labour and Conservative MPs said to him it was "clearly manhandling".
Mr Bryant said it "was the most extraordinary scene that I've seen in my time" before branding the government "complete chaos". He added: "I had Tory MPs later in the evening literally, including one whip actually, crying on my shoulder. They are in the territory of being utterly desperate about what's going on."
The chaotic day in Parliament has left Ms Truss's survival even more uncertain. Ms Braverman took an angry swipe at the government in her resignation letter by accusing it of breaking "key pledges" and failing to reduce immigration numbers. Other Conservative MPs openly admitted they felt let down by their own party.
Tory MP Charles Walker said the situation was "a shambles" before later adding: "I expect the Prime Minister to resign very soon because she's not up to the job." Ms Truss said yesterday she was a "fighter and not a quitter".
But as the ECHO's political editor Liam Thorp wrote yesterday, based on her PMQs performance and reports of the movements of her own MPs - the decision may soon be taken out of her hands.
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