Liz Truss’s premiership is hanging by a thread after a tumultuous first six weeks in office.
The Prime Minister sacked Kwasi Kwarteng in an attempt to quell unrest on the Conservative benches.
But new chancellor Jeremy Hunt has since scrapped almost all of his ill-fated mini-budget, less than a month after it was unveiled.
The Tory MP said the mini-budget left him “embarrassed” – the most recent policy
On Monday, Ms Truss apologized for mistakes she made about the government’s economic policies and said she intends to lead the Conservative Party at the next election.
But ultimately that may not be her choice if MPs move against her, and six of her own MPs have already done so.
Crispin Blunt
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1:33 “Truss should be blindingly obvious”
The Tory MP for Reigate was the first MP across the bloc to call for the Prime Minister’s resignation after her failed mini-budget last month.
Blunt, justice secretary in the early years of David Cameron’s government, told veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil that Ms Truss should go “now” as “the game is over” after just six weeks.
Describing the party’s “shocking few weeks”, Mr Blunt told Neil’s Channel 4 show: “I would be very, very surprised if there were people dying in a ditch to keep Liz Truss as Prime Minister.
“What we need to do is transition to a combination of the talents of Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Jeremy Hunt in key leadership positions in the party.
“They’re probably going to have to sit down and have a conversation with each other about how best to use the opportunity. And I think the collective position of these three would have a lot of support among MPs and across the country’s parties who are desperate to fix this”.
Andrew Bridgen
The Tory MP for North West Leicestershire was the second of Ms Truss’ MPs to call for her resignation.
Bridgen, who backed Ms Truss’s rival Rishi Sunak in the leadership campaign over the summer, announced her position in a scathing blog post which declared that Ms Truss had “run out of friends”.
“Liz has sunk her own leadership and her predecessor’s potential return at the same time, all in record time,” he wrote.
“Beleaguered Liz Truss has run out of friends. She only had the support of a third of elected MPs. We should expect more fireworks in Parliament this week.
“Unless this is resolved quickly, we’re heading for a general election.”
Beth Rigby Analysis: ‘It can’t go on like this’: It looks like it’s over for PM Truss
But Mr Bridgen is no stranger to the censorship system.
In May, he became the 27th Tory politician to tell Boris Johnson to quit over the party scandal, a series of events held in Downing Street and across Whitehall that broke the rules of the coronavirus.
Jamie Wallis
The Bridgend MP became the third Tory MP to break ranks by calling for Ms Truss to resign.
Wallis, who has been on the government’s backbenches since 2019, said the prime minister had “undermined the UK’s economic credibility and fractured our party beyond repair”.
Sharing a letter to the Prime Minister on social media, he wrote: “In recent weeks, I have seen how the government has undermined the UK’s economic credibility and fractured our party beyond repair.
“Enough is enough. I have written to the Prime Minister to ask him to step down because he no longer has the confidence of this country.”
Earlier this year, Wallis released a very personal statement saying she wants to transition to being a woman.
In his letter to Ms Truss, he called on senior party members to “exploit the issue of transgender rights” during the leadership contest.
“Watching the hostile nature of the debate and then witnessing increased hostility towards transgender people on social media and in person was distressing,” she wrote.
Wallis acknowledged that “mistakes can be undone” but said she did not believe that was possible with Ms Truss as leader.
Angela Richardson
The Guildford MP became the fourth Tory MP to call for Ms Truss to leave No 10, telling the Telegraph newspaper that it would be “better for the party and for the country to have a change of leadership at the helm”.
Ms Richardson, who was also elected in 2019, said Ms Truss should resign and then a truncated leadership election should begin “very quickly”.
“Whoever comes top in the voting, there should be a coronation. MPs should exercise common sense about it. This is a very crucial time in the time when the fact of collapsing is not in the national interest,” Ms Richardson said.
“It could be the case that everyone who is frustrated with the prime minister wants a different outcome – our biggest difficulty is settling on someone.”
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He continued: “If you think about the significance of what the Chancellor has just announced today, it seems even more of an unfolding of what she met with Kwasi.
“We should never have been in this position in the first place. And now I find it very hard to see how it can credibly continue.”
Ms Richardson has previously spoken out against the government, having quit her role as aide to former housing secretary Michael Gove in January amid growing discontent within the party.
Sir Charles Walker
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2:08 “I don’t think his position is recoverable”
The outgoing Broxbourne MP became the fifth MP to publicly call for Ms. Truss went, telling Sky News political editor Beth Rigby that the Prime Minister’s position is “untenable”.
Sir Charles, who has said he will stand down at the next election, said Ms Truss had “put her colleagues, the country through a great deal of unnecessary pain, upset and worry”.
He continued: “We don’t need a disruptor in Number 10. We need a unifier. I just think… it’s just a situation that it is… it can only be remedied, I think, by a new Prime Minister.”
Asked if Mrs Truss could stay in her post, Sir Charles said: “Look, the Prime Minister has had a very torrid six weeks.
“Personally, I don’t think his position is recoverable. Obviously, I would have a different view.
“But if you read the mood in the parliamentary party, she’s lost authority and you can’t run a party if you don’t have some authority. She doesn’t have much.”
Sir Charles said he believes Ms Truss has “a week or two” left in her prime ministership.
He continued, “I’m so angry. I’ve had enough. And I think a lot of my peers have had enough.”
William Wragg
The MP for Hazel Grove in Cheshire became the sixth MP to call for Ms Truss to resign and told the Commons she had “submitted” a letter of censure to the Prime Minister.
Speaking during an Opposition day debate on the economy, the deputy chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee of Deputies explained that he was very displeased with the current administration’s mini-budget and economic approach.
“I can’t go talk to my constituents, look them in the eye and say they should vote for our great party,” he said.
Wragg added that he would like to vote with Labor on the fracking motion but won’t as he would lose the whip.
He told MPs: “If I vote as I would, I would lose the whip. I would no longer be vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee. I would no longer hold a position as chairman of one of the select committees of the house.”
Mr Wragg said losing the Conservative Party whip would invalidate his letter of censure to Ms Truss, adding: “I want to keep that letter.”
How could Truss be dismissed?
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1:44 The Tories want out Truss, and Boris, the Tories want out Truss, and Boris.
Under Conservative party rules, a new leader cannot be challenged through official procedures for at least a year after taking office. For Ms Truss, that would be until September 2023.
However, Tory MPs who are unhappy with Mrs Truss’s leadership can still send letters of censure on her to the 1922 backbench committee chairman, Sir Graham Brady.
It is believed that if many letters are received, Sir Graham could have a mandate to change the rules of the leadership election process so that it can be carried out imminently.
If senior Tories and the chief whip find that Mrs Truss has lost the support of her party’s majority in parliament, it will be difficult for her to continue fighting.
Perhaps a rule change could be agreed so that Conservative MPs draw up a list of two candidates from the backbenches who will agree between themselves who will be Prime Minister and who will be MP without going to the Conservative members.
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Another option is that, as backbench discontent grows, Mrs Truss decides to fall on her sword and resign.
Conservatives should then try to mobilize to unite behind a successor as soon as possible.
Mrs Truss could also call a general election to let the general public decide her fate, but she is unlikely to do so any time soon, with the Tories doing so badly in recent polls.