More on that Times piece, which the newspaper has splashed on for tomorrow morning’s edition.
It says that Kwasi Kwarteng, who was Liz Truss’ chancellor until Friday lunchtime and a key ideological ally believes his sacking and her reversing her budget has only bought her a few weeks.
The article reports that Truss told Kwarteng he had to go to restore market confidence.
A source told the Times: “Kwasi thinks it only buys her a few more weeks,” a source said. “His view is that the wagons are still going to circle.”
Even inside Downing Street senior officials believe it is a matter of time before she is forced out of office. “Senior civil servants are now openly talking about her going,” one Whitehall source said. “They think she’s had it.”
Here’s a roundup of today’s news, as Liz Truss sacked Kwasi Kwarteng after he returned from an IMF summit in the US, and appointed Jeremy Hunt in his place. Truss then gave a press conference which has not gone down well with Conservative MPs.
Liz Truss sacked Kwasi Kwarteng, a key ideological ally in the Conservative party, making him the second-shortest serving chancellor in modern history.
There are discussions between senior members of the 1922 Committee of Conservative party backbenchers set to take place this weekend, about Truss’ leadership. There are rumours that there has been a “substantial number” of letters sent in to the committee calling for a vote of no confidence, Sky News has reported, despite Truss being immune for a year after her election.
Former chancellor Philip Hammond has said that the Conservative party under Liz Truss have “thrown away” reputation for “fiscal discipline and competence”.
A poll by Savanta/ComRes has found seven in 10 voters say Truss cannot win back their trust. A majority backed Kwarteng’s sacking. Another poll found support for a general election, including among Conservative voters.
The Daily Mail, one of the staunchest supporters of the Conservative party among the national newspapers has published a highly critical front page for its Saturday edition, asking “how much more can she (and the rest of us) take?”
That’s all for today. Thanks for following along. Tomorrow morning the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt will take to the airwaves, his first broadcast interviews since his appointment. He will get the round underway with an interview on LBC at 7am.
Until then, I leave you with our story that Truss’ premiership is “hanging by a thread” after a chaotic Friday.
More on that Times piece, which the newspaper has splashed on for tomorrow morning’s edition.
It says that Kwasi Kwarteng, who was Liz Truss’ chancellor until Friday lunchtime and a key ideological ally believes his sacking and her reversing her budget has only bought her a few weeks.
The article reports that Truss told Kwarteng he had to go to restore market confidence.
A source told the Times: “Kwasi thinks it only buys her a few more weeks,” a source said. “His view is that the wagons are still going to circle.”
Even inside Downing Street senior officials believe it is a matter of time before she is forced out of office. “Senior civil servants are now openly talking about her going,” one Whitehall source said. “They think she’s had it.”
We’re starting to get some of Saturday’s front pages being published. As you might expect, they all focus on Liz Truss’ battle to stay as prime minister and the sacking of her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday.
Probably the starkest for Truss and the Conservative party is the Daily Mail, a normally staunchly loyal Tory newspaper.
It asks “After another day of barely believable Tory chaos … how much more can she (and the rest of us) take?
The Times says that Truss “fights for survival” as Britain faces a financial “storm”. Its lead article suggests that Kwarteng believes that Truss has bought herself “a few weeks” by sacking him and reversing the corporation tax cut.
The Labour party has published a campaign video in the aftermath of Liz Truss’ press conference on Friday afternoon, which focuses on the impact on the economy of her policies since becoming prime minister.
The Welsh secretary, Sir Robert Buckland has defended Liz Truss, telling his party that it should not throw another leader “to the wolves” and denied her position was untenable.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions programme in Gloucester, he said: “This has been a very difficult political week, I’m not going to shy away from that, but do I think that means her position is untenable? No, I do not.”
Sir Robert was openly laughed at by the audience, as he told the programme: “I am not going to deny it is a difficult situation, I am not going to deny it at all.”
Asked why Kwasi Kwarteng had to go, but not Truss, he said: “We’ve seen before with previous governments where a chancellor has been particularly identified with a policy, which hasn’t worked out, the history is littered with a number of examples where chancellors have moved on. Prime ministers haven’t necessarily suffered the same fate.
“I think if we start with gay abandon, throwing another prime minister to the wolves, we’re going to be faced with more delay, more debate, more instability, exactly the opposite of what I think we all need as we go into this winter.
“The last thing we need is another internal party debate.”
Welsh Secretary Sir Robert Buckland said that a general election now would not be a good idea, but admitted that the change in leader had made the issue “more glaring”.
“There will be an election in the normal run of things and the people of our country will be able to make their decisions and make up their minds. I think that that is a perfectly normal course to run,” the cabinet minister said during an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions programme.
“Another leader does make that question about a general election a much more glaring one I accept, but I do not think that now is the time for more delay that inevitably an election campaign will cause.”
This from Telegraph political editor Christopher Hope, who has said that the 1922 committee will hold talks this weekend about Liz Truss’ leadership.
As reported earlier Sir Graham Brady, who is the chairman of the body that governs the parliamentary Conservative party, is in Athens – but senior members are hoping to hold a conference call of its executive tomorrow or on Sunday.
According to Hope, the idea of changing the committee’s rules to allow a challenge against Truss is not on the table. The regulations mean that a leader is immune from a no confidence vote for a year after their election. Instead it would discuss “what needs to happen to assist her to get back to a sensible level of support", one MP has told him.
French newspaper Le Monde has said Liz Truss is “adrift” after sacking Kwasi Kwarteng and appointing Jeremy Hunt.
It points out to readers across the English channel that to find another period where the government went through so many chancellors, you have to look back to 1834.
Meanwhile in a long-read published in English looking at the state of the country, the monthly French newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique said that Britain is “a country splitting apart”. Journalist Jamie Maxwell writes: “beneath the veneer of national consensus after the death of a monarch, Britain’s fissures are deepening.”
International trade secretary Kemi Badenoch has said that Liz Truss has her “full support”.
Badenoch came 4th in the Conservative party leadership contest earlier this year, and was eliminated during rounds of voting by MPs before it went to members.
She has tweeted: “To say it’s been a difficult day would be an understatement. We knew the scale of the challenge this autumn given multiple global headwinds would be unprecedented. Our Prime Minister is working flat out to get the country through these turbulent times. She has my full support.”
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