Embattled Tory Prime Minister Liz Truss is trying to stave off a leadership putsch and intends to meet with moderate Conservatives on Monday night in a last-ditch attempt to shore up support, UK media outlets reported.
Truss will address the One Nation Group - a body of centrist Conservatives in Parliament, chaired by Damian Green - the Times reported. After that, she will hold talks with her cabinet ministers at a "reception" to discuss her economic strategy in the wake of a series of U-turns that left her premiership in jeopardy.
After talks at Chequers over the new fiscal plan on Sunday, the prime minister's latest Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, who replaced the sacked Kwasi Kwarteng, was cited as saying that nothing is off the table. He failed to rule out more U-turns, including scrapping the 1p cut to the income tax base rate, and warned of further public spending cuts. The Chancellor is readying a fresh financial statement for 31 October and is expected to scrap most of the polices that helped Truss win the party leadership after she already shelved her ambitious plan to reduce corporation tax to 19p (which Hunt himself proposed cutting to 15p when he was standing in the leadership election in the summer). Nevertheless, Hunt has insisted that Truss is still “in charge.”
Still, many Conservative MPs see Truss’ departure as increasingly inevitable after she abandoned her flagship tax policies, bowing to the pressure of market turmoil.
'Game is Up'
Senior members of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers held talks late on 14 October about Truss’ future, according to the Times.
More than 100 MPs are ready to submit letters of no confidence in the PM to committee chairman, Sir Graham Brady, even though under present rules she cannot be challenged until she reaches a year in office in 11 months. However, it has been suggested that if a lot of letters are written this week, Brady will confront Truss on the matter directly. Furthermore, if the PM refuses to resign, a change in the rules could allow a confidence vote to be held. MPs have also reportedly discussed whether the threshold for a confidence vote should be raised from 15 percent of Tory MPs. According to Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the committee’s treasurer, changing the rules would require the support of “probably 60 to 70 per cent” of Conservative MPs.
Brady, however, is said to have argued that the PM and Chancellor Hunt deserve the chance to set out their economic strategy in the Budget on 31 October.
But impatient junior ministers are said to be discussing a wave of coordinated resignations similar to the kind that eventually forced out Boris Johnson.
"She has lost the confidence of the markets and she is haemorrhaging support. We need to cauterise the wound, and fast. There is an overwhelming desire among colleagues for it to be over – people want it done this week," one MP involved in discussions was cited by the Mail as saying.
Three MPs have already publicly called on Truss to resign. First, former Minister of State for Prisons, Crispin Blunt said on Channel 4:
"'The game is up and it's now a question as to how the succession is managed."
According to Blunt, Truss was "fatally damaged" by her decision to ditch her economic strategy and sack Kwarteng as Chancellor.
"She has to go now as she cannot win nor sustain the confidence of her colleagues, far less the public and a relentless media," he said.
Andrew Bridgen and Jamie Wallis were the next Conservative backbenchers to urge the Tory leader to go. Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicester, ripped into Truss in a blog post, telling The Daily Telegraph: "We cannot carry on like this. Our country, its people and our party deserve better."
Former chief whip Andrew Mitchell told the BBC:
"The Conservative Parliamentary Party has always shown itself clear, and indeed ruthless, in making changes if required. If the Prime Minister proves unable to govern effectively, she will have to stand down, and the parliamentary party will make that clear. But we should all be trying to help her to succeed and to get it right."
George Osborne, the former Tory Chancellor, predicted the Prime Minister would be ousted by Christmas, telling Channel Four: “She is 'Pino', Prime Minister In Name Only, at the moment.”
However, Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, has written in support of Truss in The Daily Telegraph.
The MP for Portsmouth North who has been tipped as one of the front-runners to succeed Truss wrote:
“Our country needs stability, not a soap opera. The national mission though is clear, as the Prime Minister said. That is what we should all focus on now. It needs pragmatism and teamwork. It needs us to work with the Prime Minister and her new Chancellor. It needs all of us.”
But as she revisited themes wielded by her throughout her summer Tory leadership bid, it is believed that Mordaunt does not rule out another run at No 10.
Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, this summer’s runner-up in the race for Downing Street, as well as Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary - who declined to stand earlier - have all reportedly been eyed as potential replacements for Truss. Even Hunt is believed to be considered after less than three days as Chancellor and despite being rejected by the party in two previous attempts to become leader.