Five Conservative MPs publicly calling for Liz Truss to resign as Prime Minister
17 October 2022, 20:13 | Updated: 18 October 2022, 07:04
Five Conservative MPs have now publicly called for Liz Truss to resign as Prime Minister.
But despite the mounting pressure, Jeremy Hunt has said he believes that Liz Truss will still be the Prime Minister at Christmas.
The new Chancellor urged Tory MPs to ‘give her a chance’ and ruled out ambitions to become the PM himself.
Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has also backed her as PM, telling journalists that the PM should ‘absolutely not’ resign and that she is a ‘very good Prime Minister’ as he arrived for an evening reception at Downing Street this evening.
Five MPs have publicly called on the PM to go – the latest is senior Tory backbencher Sir Charles Walker, who told Sky News: “I think her position is untenable.
She has put her colleagues, the country, through a huge amount of unnecessary pain and upset and worry.
“We don’t need a disruptor in No.10. We need a uniter.”
The former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs said the situation ‘can only be remedied’ with a ‘new Prime Minister’.
He gave Liz Truss ‘week or two’ before she steps down or is forced to resign, adding that he is ‘so cross’ about how ‘catastrophically incompetent’ the government has been.
Angela Richardson became the fourth Tory MP to call publicly for Liz Truss to stand down saying she the problems with the public finances were "100% down to the Prime Minister".
She told Times Radio: "I just don't think that it's tenable that she can stay in her position any longer. And I'm very sad to have to say that."
Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen and Jamie Wallis all called on the Prime Minister to quit on Sunday, while other senior figures within the parliamentary party expressed deep unease with Ms Truss's leadership but stopped short of calling for her to go.
Mr Blunt was the first MP to demand her exit, telling Channel 4's Andrew Neil Show on Sunday: "I think the game is up and it's now a question as to how the succession is managed."
Mr Bridgen told the Telegraph that his party "cannot carry on like this," adding: "Our country, its people and our party deserve better."
Meanwhile Jamie Wallis said "enough is enough" following weeks of political and economic turmoil.
Speaking on the Andrew Marr show tonight, David Simmons – the MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner – said the PMs time in office has ‘clearly been difficult’ and that 'no Prime Minister is ever safe'.
Tory MP David Simmonds: 'No Prime Minister is ever safe.'
The Prime Minister was heavily criticised this afternoon for leaving the House of Commons just half an hour after arriving.
She first appeared towards the end of Penny Mordant answering emergency questions from MPs on her behalf.
The Leader of the House of Commons was forced to deny that the PM was ‘hiding under the desk,’ insisting that she had a very genuine reason for not showing up at the start.It later turned out that Truss was meeting with Sir Graham Brady.
Number 10 sources say the meeting was ‘pre-planned’, rather than crisis talks with the chairman of the 1922 Committee – a group of backbench MPs that oversee the election of party leaders.
