A brief history of Tory rebellion

One hundred years ago, on 19 October 1922, Conservative MPs gathered at the Carlton Club. There was only one subject on the agenda: whether the party should continue its coalition with Prime Minister David Lloyd George’s wing of the Liberal party, or fight the coming General Election on its own.

Last night, by a savage irony, Tory MPs once again assembled at the Carlton Club for a dinner to commemorate that historic meeting – which resulted in the collapse of the coalition, the resignation of Lloyd George, and the formation of the 1922 Committee, the trade union of Tory backbenchers that now holds Liz Truss’s rapidly diminishing political future in its hands.

In those more deferential and dignified days, there were none of the chaotic scenes that have marked the collapse of Truss’s government: no policy U-turns or resignations of senior ministers, no manhandling of rebellious MPs, and no furious backbenchers tweeting and sounding off before the TV cameras.