A delegation of senior Tories knocks on the door of No 10
Under Tory party rules, a new leader cannot be challenged through official procedures for at least a year after entering office. But there are other routes. MPs say that if at least half the parliamentary party wanted Truss gone (that is the case already) and they all write to 1922 committee chair Graham Brady to say so, he would then feel obliged to visit the PM and tell her the game was up. If messages were also conveyed from the chief whip, Wendy Morton, and other grandees that she had lost her party in parliament, it would be difficult to fight on.
Truss gives up the ghost and resigns
Liz Truss looked close to breaking point in her brief press conference on Friday. She walked out of the room after eight minutes and answered only four questions. Some MPs believe she could be close to quitting, and even the Tory papers yesterday were asking how much more she could take. It is not impossible that she falls on her sword in the coming days, and tries to leave with some dignity, without being forced out by her party. The Tories would then have to try to unite behind a successor as quickly as possible.
A general election
Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP are all now demanding a general election. But it is difficult to see how one can come about for at least another two years. The prime minister can call one but obviously would not want to do so now or any time soon as the Tories would be destroyed, with their party so far behind in the polls. Labour can try to call a vote of confidence in the government, which would require a majority of MPs to back it to trigger an election. The last thing Tory MPs will want is to put their seats in maximum jeopardy right now.
Truss fights on but Tory MPs change the rules to get her out
If Truss told Brady that she was refusing to budge, and ignored the pleadings of grandees to go, there is nothing to stop the 1922 executive and the wider party high command from changing the rules to allow an immediate challenge. The quickest and easiest way would be for a rule change to be agreed and for Tory MPs to draw up a shortlist of two. The two would then agree between themselves who would be PM and who deputy without going to the members. No one in the party wants to stage another full-blown contest and vote among members after recent experiences.
