Liz Truss cannot afford to make “many more” mistakes and survive as prime minister, her defence minister James Heappey has admitted.
Mr Heappey said Ms Truss had “fronted up to her mistakes very quickly”, amid growing anger from Tory backbenchers after the mini-Budget disaster and at the party’s astonishing poll collapse.
Asked how many more mistakes she could afford, the Armed Forces minister told Sky News: “Well I suspect, given, how skittish our politics are at the moment, not very many.”
Ms Truss apologised to MPs for her “mistakes” on Monday night – but pledged to lead the Tories into the next general election as she fights for her job.
“I do think it is the mark of an honest politician who does say, ‘yes, I’ve made a mistake’,” she also told the BBC after her economic agenda was left in tatters by new chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Mr Heappey, asked if he was sorry for the scale of the tax-cutting mini-Budget mess, said: “Yes. 100 per cent. The reality is that scale of intervention, based on borrowing … is not sustainable. It was a mistake.”
Ms Truss met Tory MPs in the One Nation group on Monday and said she was “sorry” for mistakes made, as many MPs expressed relief Mr Hunt now appeared to be in charge of the economy.
But veteran Tory MP Sir Charles Walker became the latest to call on Liz Truss to quit, saying she has been “catastrophically incompetent”. He said the situation would only be “remedied” with “a new prime minister”.
Speaking to Sky News, Sir Charles said: “I think her position is untenable … So catastrophically incompetent over the past six weeks. I’m just so cross. I’ve just had enough.”
She is facing increasing pressure from the normally-supportive, right-wing press after her platform was dramatically binned by her new chancellor.
The Sun dubs Ms Truss the “ghost PM” across its front page, while the Daily Mail’s editorial urged “wise Tories” to decide swiftly the fate of the PM if she proves to be a “lame duck”.
Senior Tory MP Simon Hoare told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “the mild flirtation with tea party libertarianism has been strangled at birth – that has to be seen as a good thing”.
But he added: “There has to be a question mark surely as to any individual who after 12 years in office is prepared to run such a high-risk strategy.”
Under current “grace period” party rules Ms Truss is protected from a leadership challenge for 12 months, but that could change if enough Tory MPs demand it.
Mr Hunt told Sky News that he believes Liz Truss will still be at No 10 this Christmas. The chancellor – now widely described as the “de facto” PM – denied ambitions to get the top job, saying: “I rule it out, Mrs Hunt rules it out, three Hunt children rule it out.”
An ally of Penny Mordaunt held talks with Rishi Sunak last week and suggested he could be Ms Mordaunt’s chancellor as part of a “unity ticket” if Liz Truss is forced out, according to The Times.
But Sunak is said to have rebuffed the “tacit” offer. “None of the other potential candidates carry that economic credibility with them,” a Sunak ally said. “He still wants it.”
Defence secretary Ben Wallace – tipped as a leadership contender if Ms Truss is forced out – is said to have sent a message to Tory MPs urging them to give the PM more time.
But allies say Mr Wallace would withdraw support from the prime minister if she ditched on her pledge to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030. Mr Hunt said no spending was “off the table” for cuts.
Mr Hunt and Mr Wallace have held initial discussions about keeping the defence spending target, according to Mr Heappey. “Everybody is clear that 3 per cent by the end of the decade is necessary,” he told Times Radio.
Labour – have taken a 36-point lead in the polls – accused the Tories of sparking a crisis paid for by working people, and insisted “no sorry” from Ms Truss could change that.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has reiterated Labour’s calls for an extension of the windfall tax on oil and gas companies and an end to tax breaks for UK residents who have their permanent home outside the UK.
When asked about Mr Truss’s apology over her turbulent first few weeks in office on the Today programme, Ms Reeves said: “The damage has already been done.”
