Liz Truss faces calls to go from Tory MP who says ‘the game is up’ – as pressure mounts on PM | Politics News

Conservative MPs have begun publicly calling for Liz Truss to leave because they do not believe she can survive the current economic and political crisis.

Crispin Blunt, former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, is the first Tory MP to put his head on the railing since Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked as prime minister on Friday.

He said “game over” for Ms Truss after just six weeks as prime minister because he does not believe she can survive the current crisis, which has seen weeks of economic turmoil following a small budget.

“I think the game is over and now it’s a question of how to manage succession,” he told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show.

Asked how the party would remove her, the MP, who is losing the next election, said: “If there is such a weight of opinion in the parliamentary party that we have to have a change , then it will take effect. .

“Exactly how it’s done and by what mechanism exactly… but it’s going to happen.”

Under current Conservative Party rules, a vote of confidence for a leader cannot take place until they’ve been in power for at least a year, so she should theoretically be safe for the party. until next September.

However, there was discussion among MPs of the powerful 1922 backbench committee of Tory MPs about changing the rules to reduce that buffer period.

If enough MPs fail to submit letters of confidence in the Prime Minister, the 1922 executive may have no choice but to change them.

The committee’s treasurer, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, told Sky News the rules would only be changed if “a majority of the party wishes us to do it”.

If the committee is satisfied that the conditions have been met “then they will agree to change the rules”, he said.

However, he added: “I think we’re a long way from getting there at the moment.”

Bets ‘hard to come 10th at Christmas’

Andrew Mitchell, who runs the new prime minister Jeremy HuntCampaign leaders told the BBC if Ms Truss “can’t get the job done, I’m afraid she’ll leave”.

Former Prime Minister George Osborne said Ms Truss was unlikely to remain in Downing Street over Christmas.

He called her “PINO – prime minister in name only” and said Ms Truss was “hiding in Number 10” as pressure mounted.

When asked if she could survive, he told the Andrew Neil Show: “Probably not.”

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And Mark Garnier, the Conservative MP for Wyre Forest, today questioned Ms Truss’ position but remained completely unaffected by calling for her departure.

He said those who agreed with her appointment of Mr Hunt as prime minister were divided into two camps – those who believed MPs should give Ms Truss time, and those who wanted to “tear off the plaster”.

He told BBC Politics Midlands: “I think power is a very fickle thing, and I think Liz Truss is in power but not in power.

“The question is do we give her a chance or do we tear the plaster?

“The really important question is do we feel confident that we’re going to be in the next general election with Liz Truss? If not, I think we need to tear off the plaster.”

The Party needs a fundamental reset

Alicia Kearns, the new chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said the party needed a “fundamental reset” but said it was difficult to know if Ms Truss should go.

“Ultimately it was a very difficult issue because I think you know that we had questions around our ethical competence,” she told Times Radio.

“We now have questions around our financial viability.

“I do not want further questions surrounding our ability to continue to lead as a party and our ability to maintain unity. This is an extremely difficult question, and ultimately, a very difficult question. I need to listen to my colleagues and talk to them in the coming days.

“But do we need a basic reset?”

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Tory grandee and pollster Lord Hayward told Sky News it would be “difficult” for Ms Truss to continue as Chancellor after the last few weeks and become the new prime minister after just 38 days.

On Sunday morning, both Mr Hunt and Andrew Griffith, the Treasury secretary for finance, said they thought Ms Truss would stay because they had shown loyalty to the Prime Minister.

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