Rebellious Tory MPs Have Reportedly Given Truss 17 Days to Save Her Job as UK PM

The British PM remains in hot water following the release of the UK government’s emergency tax-slashing mini-budget late last month, which triggered a backlash from Conservative MPs amid ensuing financial turmoil; the pound plunged to its lowest level since 1971 and mortgage lenders scrapped a spate of key deals.

Liz Truss has been given 17 days to save her job by rebellious Tory MPs, who have “lined up” former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt as “a joint ticket” to replace the UK prime minister, according to the Daily Mail.

The newspaper quoted Tory whips as warning that Truss could face a leadership challenge if Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's upcoming economic statement fails to do away with UK market turmoil caused by the government unveiling its emergency tax-cutting mini-budget in late September.

The publication of Kwarteng’s so-called “medium-term fiscal plan” on October 31 is reportedly seen by backbench MPs as a document that is central to the survival of both the PM and Chancellor. The plan aims to set out how No 10 will balance the books amid the mini-budget, with independent think tanks claiming the black hole that needs to be filled could top £60 billion ($67 billion).

An unnamed former Cabinet minister was cited by the Daily Mail as saying that “it is all about the statement on October 31 now – she [Truss] has got days to turn things around, that's all.”

“'She is going to have to reverse the mini-Budget and she is probably going to have to sack Kwasi. Even then, it might not be enough if she can't regain the confidence of the markets. The worry is that she still appears to be in denial about how bad things are,” the minister argued.

They were echoed by an unnamed senior Tory MP, who told the Daily Mail that “the rules [allowing us to oust the PM] can be changed at any time.” According to the lawmaker, “if she [Truss] loses the confidence of the parliamentary party and cannot regain it, then she will have to go. Of course it will look bad. But we have a duty to stop things descending into the kind of chaos that causes long-term damage.” Under Conservative Party rules, Truss cannot face a formal leadership challenge until September 2023.

The remarks came as The Times reported that up to 30 senior MPs, including former ministers, are trying to form a “council of elders” to demand the PM’s ouster.

“Rishi's people, Penny's people and the sensible Truss supporters who realize she's a disaster need to sit down together and work out who the unity candidate is. It's either Rishi as prime minister with Penny as his deputy and foreign secretary, or Penny as prime minister with Rishi as chancellor”, an unnamed MP told The Times. Sunak and Mordaunt were second and third, respectively, in the Tory leadership contest this past summer.

The Telegraph in turn cited unnamed sources as saying that Conservative MPs are considering the Michael Howard-style "coronation" of a possible successor to Truss. According to the newspaper, under one plan that is “gaining traction” among the MPs, the successor should be chosen not according to the normal leadership rules but by cutting out party members' participation and having the MPs pick a winner themselves.

One of the insiders told The Telegraph that “the Tory party is in a bad way already and that would just make us even more unpopular; what we’d hope to do is just have the MPs select the winner.” The source added that “if there was a change of leader, another six-week election process would not be sensible. You’d want to have an agreed successor for MPs to coalesce around, but at the present moment that is almost impossible.”

The newspaper recalled that in 2003, when the Tories ousted Iain Duncan Smith, they decided to avoid consulting the members and unanimously pick a successor, Lord Michael Howard, all by themselves.

A Downing Street source has meanwhile admitted that the waters that may engulf Truss are “choppy and might well get choppier,” claiming at the same time that “there is a way through.”

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, for his part, argued in an interview with the BBC that “changing the leadership would be a disastrously bad idea politically and economically.”

The view was partly supported by former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who warned that ousting Truss would result in a general election as she called on warring MPs to unite behind the PM. “MPs circulating a smorgasbord of names about who should replace Truss as PM are not taking into account the fact they cannot foist upon the British public another prime minister that the public have not voted for. A totally untenable position,” she tweeted.

The developments come after Kwarteng cancelled his meetings in Washington DC to fly back to the UK to hold crunch talks with Truss on possible new U-turns pertaining to the mini-budget.

This was preceded by the PM telling Sky News that there was “absolutely no shame” in the government's U-turn on abolishing the highest rate of income tax earlier this month. Truss claimed that scrapping the 45% rate paid on income over £150,000 per year showed that the government was listening to ordinary peoples' concerns over the mini-budget, which earlier prompted UK market turbulence and the pound plunging to all­-time law.