Liz Truss is fighting for her political life as the fallout from her disastrous “mini” budget continues.
The powerful 1922 Committee of Conservative back-benchers – which organises leadership contests – has already reportedly held secret talks about removing the prime minister.
Jeremy Hunt, who Ms Truss appointed as chancellor after dispatching her "friend" Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday, is one of the names being suggested to take over.
Others include Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor who lost out to Truss in the last leadership race – Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and defence secretary Ben Wallace.
As Ms Truss failed to win back the support of her colleagues following a press conference after sacking her chancellor, the conversation among many Tory MPs has turned to when, not if, she will be removed.
A number of MPs have already put their heads above the parapet by publicly calling for Ms Truss to resign.
Below we look at those who have made it clear that it is time for (another) new Tory leader.
Crispin Blunt
Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, was the first out of the blocks in calling for Ms Truss to quit. His intervention came on 16 October.
"I think the game is up and it’s now a question as to how the succession is managed," Mr Blunt told Channel 4's Andrew Neil Show.
Mr Blunt was first elected to parliament in 1997 and served as a justice minister from May 2010 to 2012.
Earlier this year he said he would stand down at the next election, after being criticised for his defence of Imran Ahman Khan, who was jailed for sexually assaulting a teenage boy. He said Mr Khan’s conviction was a “serious miscarriage of justice”.
Andrew Bridgen
Next to publicly voice his disquiet over Ms Truss's premiership was serial rebel Andrew Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicestershire. Mr Bridgen also spoke out on 16 October.
"We cannot carry on like this," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Our country, its people and our party deserve better."
He was first elected to parliament in 2010 and was one of the first MPs to call for the resignation of Boris Johnson, who resigned as party leader and PM earlier this year.
In April a judge ruled that Mr Bridgen lied under oath in a case about a family financial dispute. He described the ruling as “disappointing reading for me” but said that he won the case.
Jamie Wallis
Jamie Wallis was last to publically call for Ms Truss to resign on Sunday 16 October.
"In recent weeks, I have watched as the government has undermined Britain’s economic credibility & fractured our Party irreparably," he wrote in a letter to Ms Truss and posted to his Twitter page.
"Enough is enough," he added. "I have written to the prime minister to ask her to stand down as she no longer holds the confidence of this country."
Mr Wallis was elected as the MP for Bridgend in December 2019 and is a member of a number of committees.
Angela Richardson
The MP for Guildford has become the fourth Tory member of Parliament to call for Liz Truss to go, telling Times Radio her position was “untenable”.
“We saw those unfunded tax cuts,” she said. “Had that not happened, the markets would not have responded in the way that they did, we would not be seeing the fact that there’s potentially an extra £10bn pounds [in borrowing costs] that we’ve got to try and plug.
“And I believe that’s 100 per cent down to the prime minister, I’m afraid. And so I just don’t think that it’s tenable that she can stay in her position any longer. And I’m very sad to have to say that.”
Sir Charles Walker
Sir Charles Walker was fifth, telling Sky News that Ms Truss’s “position is untenable” on the evening of Monday 17 October.
He said: “She has put colleagues, the country, through a huge amount of unnecessary pain and upset and worry. We don’t need a disruptor in No 10. We need a uniter.”
The dire state of affairs “can only be remedied” by “a new prime minister,” he added.
Sir Charles said Ms Truss had another “week or two” before stepping down or being forced to resign, adding that he is “so cross” about how “catastrophically incompetent” her government has been.
