Liz Truss is currently meeting with the chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives Sir Graham Brady, Downing Street has said. The committee is the body that decides if a Prime Minister should face a confidence vote and organises the election of a new leader.
No 10 sources said Liz Truss invited Sir Graham Brady to Downing Street for talks.
Liz Truss was battling an open revolt as the number of Tory MPs demanding her resignation swelled after a calamitous 24 hours for her premiership.
The number of Conservatives publicly calling for the Prime Minister to quit doubled to a dozen within the space of a couple of hours on Thursday morning.
Tory MPs were wondering how long Ms Truss can go on after the chaotic scenes in the Commons that followed the resignation of Suella Braverman as home secretary.
But Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan insisted that, “at the moment”, she believes Ms Truss will lead the party into the next election.
Senior backbencher Simon Hoare was unable to say whether the country has a functioning Government as he gave Ms Truss “12 hours” to fix the situation.
The pound, which faced a battering over the disastrous mini-budget, slid again as City traders digested the growing turmoil in Westminster.
Six Conservatives demanded Ms Truss’s exit before the morning was out, with the number expected to rise further – with the scale of private demands believed to be far higher.
Veteran Tory Sir Gary Streeter said it now seems they must change leader but warned the Tories could still face “slaughter at the next election” even if “angel Gabriel” took over.
Sheryll Murray said Ms Truss’s position was “untenable” after ugly scenes including allegations of bullying in the Commons and No 10 unable to say for hours whether the whips had quit.
Miriam Cates told Times Radio “it’s time for the Prime Minister to go”, with Henry Smith demanding she does the “honourable thing” in order to get “solid leadership”.
But who would succeed Ms Truss remained a major point of contention, with Steve Double demanding a unity candidate such as Rishi Sunak after Ms Truss “lost control”.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, however, was tipping Boris Johnson, forced out just months ago over a series of scandals, to take over again.
The turmoil appeared to be affecting the pound as sterling declined by 0.27% to 1.119 against the US dollar – its lowest reading this week.
The events of Wednesday saw Ms Braverman lash out at Ms Truss’s “tumultuous” premiership as she resigned and accused the Government of “breaking key pledges” including on immigration policy.
Her departure, just five days after Kwasi Kwarteng’s sacking as chancellor, means the Prime Minister has lost two people from the four great offices of state within her first six weeks in No 10, with all eyes on whether other Cabinet ministers could follow suit.
The exodus appeared to continue, with speculation chief whip Wendy Morton and her deputy Craig Whittaker had resigned in fury at the handling of a vote on a Labour motion over fracking.
At 9.49pm – over two hours after the vote – No 10 issued a statement saying both remained in post.
In an extraordinary further update at 1.33am, Downing Street said the Prime Minister has “full confidence” in both of them.
It came after climate minister Graham Stuart told the Commons minutes before the vote that “quite clearly this is not a confidence vote”, despite Mr Whittaker earlier issuing a “100% hard” three-line whip, meaning any Tory MP who rebelled could be thrown out of the parliamentary party.
No 10 later said Mr Stuart had been “mistakenly” told by Downing Street to say the vote should not be treated as a confidence motion, and that Conservative MPs were “fully aware” it was subject to a three-line whip.
A spokesman said the whips would be speaking to the Tories who failed to support the Government, and those without a “reasonable excuse” would face “proportionate disciplinary action” – although that does not necessarily mean whey would have the whip removed.
The confusion led to ugly scenes at Westminster, with Cabinet ministers Therese Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg among a group of senior Tories accused of pressuring colleagues to go into the “no” lobby, with Labour former minister Chris Bryant saying some MPs were “physically manhandled into another lobby and being bullied”.
Business Secretary Mr Rees-Mogg insisted he had seen no evidence of anyone being manhandled, but senior Tory MP Sir Charles Walker said what took place was “inexcusable” and “a pitiful reflection on the Conservative Parliamentary Party”.
Ms Trevelyan told Sky News it is “never acceptable” for MPs to be “manhandled” into voting, adding she was “shocked” by reports from the Commons.
She said Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle would be investigating “to ensure that these scenes and indeed these situations do not happen again”.
Tory rebels were confused over whether they still had the party whip, with Siobhan Baillie saying: “I don’t know but I hope so.”
In a sign of the growing pressure on Ms Truss, Tory former Brexit minister Lord Frost joined calls for her to step down.
“The Government is implementing neither the programme Liz Truss originally advocated nor the 2019 manifesto. It is going in a completely different direction,” the Conservative peer, who backed Ms Truss to be Prime Minister, wrote in The Telegraph.
“There is no shred of a mandate for this. It’s only happening because the Truss Government messed things up more badly than anyone could have imagined… Something has to give.”
There is speculation the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, has already received more than 54 letters calling for a confidence vote in the Prime Minister, the threshold for triggering one if Ms Truss was not in the 12-month grace period for new leaders.
The full list of MPs calling for Liz Truss to resign
A dozen Conservative MPs have now called for Liz Truss to resign.
Thursday morning saw six Tories – Sir Gary Streeter, Sheryll Murray, Miriam Catets, Steve Double, Henry Smith and Matthew Offord – add their voices to calls for the Prime Minister to step down.
They joined Crispin Blunt, who became the first Tory MP to publicly call for Ms Truss to resign on October 16, and five others who had already made their declarations before the chaotic scenes in the Commons on Wednesday night.
The full list of those who have said the PM should resign is as follows:
– Crispin Blunt
Reigate MP Crispin Blunt announced his loss of confidence in the Prime Minister in a post on his website.
He said her authority has been “fatally damaged” and called for a “leadership team based around Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Jeremy Hunt” to take over.
He said: “She has to go now as she cannot win nor sustain the confidence of her colleagues, far less the public and a relentless media. The principal emotional reaction to her public presentation is now a mixture of anger, contempt and pity.”
– Jamie Wallis
Jamie Wallis, the MP for Bridgend and Porthcawl, said in a letter to the Prime Minister that her policies have done “clear and obvious harm to the British economy” and criticised her decision to appoint her supporters to senior Government jobs over “the most qualified politicians available”.
The Welsh MP also attacked Ms Truss for failing to challenge “increased hostility towards transgender people” both on social media and among candidates in the leadership contest.
– Andrew Bridgen
Serial rebel Andrew Bridgen told the Telegraph “we cannot carry on like this” and, in a blog for American website Pavlovic Today, said Ms Truss has “run out of friends” and “sunk her own leadership” with the mini-budget.
– Angela Richardson
Guildford MP Angela Richardson became the fourth MP to call for Ms Truss to go, telling Times Radio on Monday that the Prime Minister was responsible for the financial chaos of the previous weeks.
Ms Richardson said she does not think Ms Truss’s position is “tenable” and confirmed she would support Rishi Sunak taking over.
– Sir Charles Walker
A former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Charles Walker told Sky News: “I think her position is untenable. She has put colleagues, the country, through a huge amount of unnecessary pain and upset and worry.”
After Wednesday’s fracking vote, the Broxbourne MP told BBC News that Ms Truss’s supporters have done “extraordinary” damage to the Conservative Party.
– William Wragg
William Wragg, who chairs the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and was a prominent opponent of Boris Johnson, told the Commons ahead of the fracking vote that he had written to Sir Graham Brady to say he had no confidence in Ms Truss.
– Sir Gary Streeter
Sir Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, tweeted on Thursday morning that the Conservatives have to change leader, but warned this will not be enough to change the party’s fortunes.
He said that “even if the angel Gabriel now takes over”, the Tories will need to “urgently rediscover discipline, mutual respect and teamwork” if they are to govern well and “avoid slaughter at the next election”.
– Sheryll Murray
Sheryll Murray became the first MP who endorsed Ms Truss during the leadership contest to call for her resignation.
The South East Cornwall MP tweeted on Thursday that she agrees with fellow West Country MP Sir Gary Streeter, adding: “I had high hopes for Liz Truss but after what happened last night her position has become untenable and I have submitted a letter to Sir Graham Brady”.
– Miriam Cates
Penistone and Stocksbridge MP Miriam Cates, who backed Suella Braverman for the party leadership, told Times Radio on Thursday that Ms Truss’s position “seems untenable” and it is time for her to go.
– Steve Double
Another West Country MP, Steve Double also told Times Radio on Thursday that the Prime Minister should resign.
He said: “I believe the scenes of yesterday have shown that there is no functioning Government, it’s completely broken down. She isn’t up to the job, sadly, and I think it’s time for her to just accept that and announce that she’s going to step down and allow us to find someone else.”
– Henry Smith
Crawley MP Henry Smith, who endorsed Ms Braverman and then Ms Truss for the leadership, told Times Radio on Thursday that the party “can’t delay” removing the Prime Minister.
He said: “I think she should do the honourable thing and say that her premiership has made the wrong calls, not just once or twice but consistently since coming into office almost two months ago.”
Mr Smith added that it is time for a return to “strong leadership” of the sort “we did actually see under Boris Johnson’s administration”.
– Matthew Offord
Matthew Offord, the MP for Hendon, told the Evening Standard on Thursday that the Prime Minister’s position is no longer “sustainable” and she needs to “manage some kind of dignified exit”.
He also backed Ms Truss during the leadership campaign, making a total of three former supporters of the Prime Minister now calling for her resignation.
