Penny Mordaunt was asked 17 times by MPs to give a reason why Liz Truss did not appear for urgent questions in the House of Commons on Monday.
Each time the leader of the house was asked to explain the prime minister’s absence, she either refused to answer or repeated the claim that Ms Truss was on “urgent business”.
After her mystery absence caused quite a stir in the chamber, the PM finally took her seat at the end of the session, ahead of Jeremy Hunt’s first statement to the Commons as chancellor.
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