Liz Truss is reportedly prepared to take notice of Tory MPs who are opposing proposals to increase benefits payments by less than inflation.
Speculation is growing that the prime minister is getting ready to give in to Cabinet pressure to increase welfare in line with inflation.
Ms Truss is reportedly “genuinely undecided” on the issue but will be “listening to Cabinet and colleagues”, a Downing Street source told the Telegraph on Sunday.
But senior Tory MPs might back Ms Truss on benefits if Office for Budget Responsibility predictions shows there must be massive spending cuts to balance the books
A source from Number 10 told the newspaper: “The prime minister is very clear that she wants to bring the parliamentary party with her on the growth plan.
“She will be stepping up engagement with MPs and listening to feedback from them and their constituents across the country.”
Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi has warned “delay is our biggest enemy” as he sought to quell disquiet in Tory ranks after a tumultuous week for the party.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said colleagues must “focus” on delivering for the country, as any “dither” will “end in defeat” for the Conservatives.
But tensions were still running high on Sunday, as a senior Tory MP warned the current mood in the party is “febrile”, with many backbenchers – and indeed members of the government -“very concerned at where we are in the polls”.
The PM appeared to make an attempt to heal party wounds ahead of a big week for her premiership by choosing Greg Hands – who supported her rival Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership race – to replace sacked minister Conor Burns in the Department for International Trade.
It came after Mr Zahawi, along with three other Cabinet ministers, wrote articles for Sunday papers calling on Conservatives to rally behind Ms Truss as she battles to steady the ship following an annual party conference blighted by infighting.
Mr Zahawi used a round of broadcast interviews on Sunday to call for the party to unite or risk sacrificing the keys to No 10 to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme he said: “We’ve got two years to demonstrate to the nation that we can deliver. I want my colleagues to obviously focus, because any dither or delay will end in defeat.”
He told Times Radio that attention should be directed towards “delivery” and “policy” rather than personal attacks, after Michael Gove was branded “sadistic” by a source in a newspaper article.
Nadine Dorries, who has been critical of the government’s current trajectory, also urged backing for the PM, as she said she is “still one of Liz’s biggest supporters”.
But she suggested Ms Truss should look at “nuancing the policies and the mandate that she’s taking forward in a slightly different way”.
“The fact is that just after a leadership election, and at the start of a new administration, what we don’t need is a disrupter, what we need is a unifier,” she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.
“And I think probably that the new Prime Minister has realised that over the last few weeks.”
Former Conservative chancellor George Osborne warned the party could suffer a “wipe-out” at the next election, as he compared the Government’s predicament to the aftermath of a “political experiment” that has “blown up the chemistry lab”.
“I think a Tory wipe-out is potentially on the cards but we’ve got two years to run,” he told the Andrew Neil Show on Channel 4.
He said Labour “hasn’t quite sealed the deal in the way that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had sealed the deal in the mid-90s” but it is “certainly a possibility”.
Meanwhile, senior Tory Mel Stride told Times Radio: “There are a lot of backbenchers and indeed members of the Government who are very concerned at where we are in the polls.
“We’ve got two years to a general election. There’s a recognition that we’ve got to turn things around and start doing it very quickly. I think most people do, as I do, see the economy as being right at the heart of that… and that there have been too many missteps.”
Former chancellor Alistair Darling described the current situation as “chaotic” and said the Government is giving “a textbook example of everything you shouldn’t do in difficult times”.
He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “The problem they’ve got is that at a very febrile time – we’ve got high inflation, the strengthening dollar – they suddenly decided that they were going to have £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts.
“Politically it was a disaster because they wanted to reduce the top rates of tax, frankly, for people who don’t actually need it.
“And the real problem is, people are losing credibility in this Government’s ability to govern.
“They don’t have any confidence in what they’re doing.”
