Former MP Sir Graham Brady on 'surreal' Liz Truss moment, Brexit and Boris

Former Altrincham and Sale West MP Sir Graham Brady has revealed the 'surreal' moment former Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned after just 49 days. Holed up at Downing Street with a tuna sandwich and a mug of tea, he said he was watching rolling news coverage of the situation as it played out, as the media believed he was in a meeting with her.

Now Lord Brady and sitting in the House of Lords, he's lifted the lid of memorable moments at the helm of and influential Conservative backbench committee.

Sir Graham oversaw a string of leadership contests and was the keeper of letters of no confidence from disgruntled MPs in his 14 years chairing the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs. The Tory grandee didn't stand at this year's General Election - his constituency going Labour for the first time in more than 100 years.

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He told the PA news agency of Ms Truss' resignation: "That was one of the most surreal moments because I was in an office with a mug of tea and a tuna sandwich… watching the rolling news on the TV and watching stuff on my mobile phone." The gathered media, he said, thought he was in a meeting with Ms Truss at the time.

Sir Graham said that 'up there with that' was the morning after the Brexit referendum in 2016, where he was live on the BBC to back David Cameron staying in his post, only to see on a monitor the then-Prime Minister walking up to a podium outside Downing Street to resign.

"I’d let the chief whip know that I was going to be out on the media round and would be making clear that the Prime Minister should remain in office," he said. "Nobody then called me back to say 'I wouldn’t bother if