And now it appears that our illustrious "health" secretary (who voted against the public smoking ban and has now decided to either reduce or not go forward with the plans to cut smoking even further), has admitted giving her antibiotic prescriptions to friends and family, which is illegal and potentially very dangerous.

And, of course we have cruella braveman not only wanting to dispatch some of the most vulnerable people in the world for someone else to deal with, but admits her ambition is to be able to wallow in their misery.

Never has the epithet 'tory scum' been more appropriate.

Well, well, well ... I don't think I would have ever welcomed the arrival of Jeremy Hunt with open arms ! These days, he's like a trusted Tory elder!

Suffice to say, that virtually every single element of the Truss/Kwarteng mini-budget has been reversed.

Hunt thinks he can be in control of public finances ... If he precipitates a recession (99% likely) he will lose complete control of the public finances as tax revenues crash and benefit costs rise ... it was all about transferring the cost of economic uncertainty from the government onto UK households. Hunt might save government finances. The cost will be the most staggering personal debt crisis, with millions of victims.

This now a PM without political support or a policy platform. How do you remain Prime Minister in that situation?

a "number 10 source" has confirmed they will be proceeding with investment zones

Markets remain upbeat as Hunt ditches mini-budget tax cuts

Treasury explains how seven mini-budget U-turns will raise £32bn

These handclaps for Kwarteng's original statement haven't aged well !

The definition of a true tory:

Someone who believes that they should bring back the death penalty for everything but motoring offences and tax evasion.

Mordant did amazingly well, and even made a scorching passive aggressive swipe with "she's not under the table". 

Weird that Truss just popped in for 30 minutes and didn't say a word. Can't help but feel sorry for her as her entire world has crashed down... Everything she believed in. She looked broken, and maybe even sedated. Likely couldn't speak cos of the stress & emotion. Probably better optics if she'd stayed away entirely.

Through it all, Hunt did just fine too... It does seem comforting that some sort of normal politics is returning... 

Hehe ... yeah, we do need to maintain some perspective .. the power of relativity !

Let’s have a quiet reflection on where we are this morning.

- Taxes, up
- Inflation, high
- Wage rises, low
- Mortgages & Rents, skyrocketing
- Fuel bills, astronomic
- Austerity, coming
- Recession, next year

But don’t worry: the bankers are happy now. So that’s OK.

Meanwhile ...

https://twitter.com/amanpour/status/1582060887762141184

I thought it seemed odd that Penny Mordaunt stood in for the PM (as well as she did), rather than the deputy PM.

It was a meeting with the chair of The Conservative 1922 Committee, maybe to discuss the letters of no confidence. Although I'm not sure why it couldn't wait?

Liz Truss was 'late to Commons because she was in meeting with Sir Graham Brady'

Meanwhile, yesterday's James O'B really nails it - the first 15 mins here are excellent. ?

https://pca.st/vkdezaxw

Labour's lead now 29 points.

I was expecting it to have closed a little.