Three Tory MPs broke their ranks today and publicly urged the under fire Prime Minister Liz Truss to step down – less than two months after her premiership.
Andrew Bridgen and Jamie Wallis became the latest Conservative backbenchers to go out today with their appeal for the embattled Tory leader to leave.
It comes after ex-minister Crispin Blunt told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show today that he doesn’t think the prime minister can survive the current crisis.
Mr Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicester, who supported Rishi Sunak’s leadership campaign, made his position clear today.
After laughing at Ms Truss in a blog post, he told The Daily Telegraph: ‘We can’t go on like this. Our country, its people and our party deserve better.’
Jamie Wallis took to Twitter tonight to share a letter to the Prime Minister saying: “In recent weeks I have seen how the government has undermined Britain’s economic credibility and broken our party beyond repair.
‘Enough is enough. I have written to the Prime Minister asking her to resign because she no longer has the confidence of this country.”
While many Tories have said the Prime Minister is on his way behind the scenes, he is the first to say publicly that her days are numbered, despite Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng being abolished somewhat to retain power.
It comes as the Archbishop of Canterbury became the last critic of her mini-Budget.
While touring Australia, Justin Welby said plans to cut taxes on the rich and rely on trickling economies were “immoral.”
Andrew Bridgen (pictured) and Jamie Wallis became the latest Conservative backbenchers to come out today with their call for the embattled Tory leader to leave
Jamie Wallis (pictured) took to Twitter tonight to share a letter to the Prime Minister saying: ‘In recent weeks I have seen how the government has undermined Britain’s economic credibility and broken our party beyond repair. ‘
Former minister Crispin Blunt told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show that he doesn’t think the prime minister can survive the current crisis.
The intervention of the Reigate MP – who will himself leave the Commons in the next election – came as the Archbishop of Canterbury became the latest critic of her mini-budget.
While touring Australia, Justin Welby said plans to cut taxes on the rich and rely on trickling economies were “immoral.”
Meanwhile, Mr Blunt – who will leave the Commons in the next election – told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show that he thinks the Prime Minister cannot survive the current crisis.
“I think the game is over and the question now is how the succession is managed,” he said.
When asked how the party will get rid of her, he said: ‘If there is such a weight of opinion in the parliamentary party that we have to change, then it will happen.
“Exactly how it’s done and exactly under what mechanism…but it will happen.”
Welby clashed with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government over a range of issues and spoke out again while Down Under.
He told the Guardian he couldn’t see any “moral case” for a budget that disproportionately affects the poorest, adding: “I’m not going to make a partisan point because both parties are deeply divided and I’m not going to talk about Australia because I just don’t know the situation. But in the UK, the priority is on the cost of living, with the poorest.
And from an economic standpoint, I’m very skeptical of trickle-down theory.
“You know, when you economise on the rich, ever since Keynes wrote his general theory in 1936, whenever that was the case, he showed very clearly that the rich save when they have enough to live on.
“So if you want to generate spending in the economy, you put more money in the hands of those who need the money to buy food, to buy goods, to buy basic necessities.”
It came as new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt insisted that Liz Truss remain “in charge” of the government today as he prepared to meet with the prime minister hours after she rejected her new economic plan.
The new chancellor is set to meet with the prime minister during her country retreat in Checkers after he denied he led a ‘silent coup’ and warned of major cuts in government spending and future tax hikes.
Amid claims the Tories are still planning to replace the prime minister, Mr Hunt is expected to follow up Friday’s slump to raise corporate taxes with the mini-budget’s plan to cut the base rate of income tax by 1 pence. lower it to 19 pence to nullify it.
Within a day of receiving the keys to number 11, the new chancellor’s actions – which were not denied in a media round today – mean that none of the three main strands of the ‘Trussonomics’ package from just three weeks ago remain. .
In addition to Friday’s corporate tax rollback – which is now set to rise from 19 percent to 25 percent – the decision to abolish the 45 pence tax rate for the highest earners was shamefully reversed at the Conservative Party Conference.
There are also suggestions that he is also abandoning plans to increase defense spending to 3 percent of GDP.
Appearing on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Hunt said he wants to keep as many tax cuts from Liz Truss as possible, but all options remain open.
On Sunday he told Luara Kuenssberg that “the Prime Minister is in charge” and said: “We will have to make some very difficult decisions, both in terms of spending and taxes. Spending will not increase as much as people had hoped … taxes will not fall as fast as people thought and some taxes will go up,” he said.
And he also said that no government department would be immune to “efficiency cuts” as he announced budget cuts were coming.
Asked if it was a return to the 2010 coalition austerity measures, he said: “I don’t think we’re going to get anything like this this time.”