In September and October 2022, the Conservative Party government led by newly appointed prime minister Liz Truss faced a credibility crisis.

It was caused by the September 2022 mini-budget and a disorganised vote in the House of Commons over a parliamentary motion to ban fracking, ultimately resulting in the loss of support of Conservative members of parliament (MPs).

On the evening of 19 October, MPs voted on a Labour Party motion to create time to debate a ban on fracking in the UK, which was opposed by the government.

[a] Truss had been elected as leader of the Conservative Party on 5 September at the culmination of a seven-week process,[1] and was duly appointed as prime minister by Queen Elizabeth II on the following day.

[6] This prompted significant negative market reaction, including the pound sterling falling to a record low against the US dollar and a sharp increase in the cost of government borrowing.

[11] According to The Daily Telegraph, there were at least five Conservative MPs calling for Truss's resignation by 17 October: Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen, Angela Richardson, Charles Walker and Jamie Wallis.

[23] Fact-checking charity Full Fact noted the commonly mis-characterised nature of the allowance, adding that it was not correct to suggest that "former prime ministers simply 'get' the money".

[28][29] As the day progressed, 10 Downing Street became increasingly concerned about the potential size of the rebellion among Conservative MPs and informed the climate minister, Graham Stuart, that the vote would no longer be treated as a matter of confidence.

[38] Charles Walker called the Truss ministry "a shambles and a disgrace... utterly appalling", commenting of its supporters that he had "had enough of talentless people" for whom "it’s in their own personal interest to achieve a ministerial position".

Boris Johnson was the most popular potential replacement, followed by Ben Wallace, Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch, Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman.

[45] On 11 October, The Economist published an article criticising Truss in which they compared the length of time she had control of the country to the shelf life of a lettuce.

[48] On 19 October, after Suella Braverman's resignation, the lettuce was filmed with a plate of tofu to mock the statement she had made the previous day which attacked climate-protest groups as "Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati".