Truss Meets With Key Tory Who Runs Process for Ousting Leaders

Kitty Donaldson and Joe Mayes
·4 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Liz Truss invited key Conservative Party lawmaker Graham Brady for talks in 10 Downing Street, fueling the sense that her premiership is on the brink of collapse after a series of humiliating U-Turns.

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The meeting is potentially very significant because Brady represents rank-and-file Tory MPs and ultimately decides party rules for leadership contests. With events moving rapidly in Westminster, the unscheduled talks could well mark the beginning of the end for an administration in tatters.

Anger in Truss’s party has intensified in the last 24 hours after Truss fired Home Secretary Suella Braverman and a Parliament vote descended into chaos. Truss had already been forced to fire Kwasi Kwarteng, after the economic plan she designed with her former chancellor blew up in the face of market turmoil.

UK bonds rallied on Thursday, easing earlier losses, as traders pared interest-rate bets amid doubts over whether Truss can cling onto power. The pound flipped to gains, rising 0.3% to $1.1249.

In theory, Truss is protected from a leadership challenge for a year under existing Conservative Party rules. But if enough MPs come out against Truss, Brady will be under huge pressure to change the rules to allow a confidence vote. In reality, it’s unlikely to get that far -- Brady telling Truss she’s lost support of her party would probably prompt her to quit.

Key Tory Figures

The arrival of Tory party Chairman Jake Berry in 10 Downing Street soon after Brady is a further indication that talks about Truss’s future may be under way.

Truss’s Government on Brink as Tories Agitate for Her to Go

Cabinet ministers took part in late night conversations about whether Truss should resign, according to two people familiar with the discussions. And a growing number of MPs now want Truss to resign immediately -- including her former backer Sheryll Murray, who said the premier’s position is “untenable.”

“We need to effect a change, frankly, today in order to stop this shambles,” veteran Tory MP Crispin Blunt told the BBC.

Even the Cabinet minister sent out to speak for the government on its morning broadcast round didn’t sound confident about the premier’s prospects. Asked on Times Radio whether Truss, 47, will lead the Conservatives into the next election, Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan replied: “At the moment that is still the case.”

‘Difficult Day’

Truss’s spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters at a regular briefing that Truss acknowledges Wednesday was a “difficult day,” but insisted the prime minister believes she will lead the Tories into the next election. That is due by January 2025 at the latest.

One potential stumbling block for Truss’s opponents is that they lack an obvious unifying candidate to replace her. Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt are widely seen as the most likely candidates, having come second and third to Truss in the party leadership contest.

Jeremy Hunt, who was parachuted into government to replace Kwarteng as Chancellor of the Exchequer to try to calm financial markets, is another.

Still, they all have their opponents in the party. Until Wednesday, there was a widely-held view in the party that a leadership change should wait at least until Hunt announces a new economic plan on Oct. 31.

Events Accelerate

But Truss’s sacking of Braverman -- and the debacle in Parliament hours later -- have lit a fire under efforts to resolve the impasse over her replacement.

Truss’s attempt to regain control -- bringing in Grant Shapps in place of Braverman -- backfired because the former transport secretary has himself been openly plotting with Tory MPs to remove the prime minister. The move appeared desperate, and fueled the growing view that Truss’s short tenure in Number 10 may have entered its final phase.

If Truss does go, she’ll become the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. The current holder of that ignominious record, George Canning, died in office of tuberculosis after 119 days. Truss is currently on 44 days.

Veteran Tory MP Charles Walker told Bloomberg News that there should be a “papal conclave” of Mordaunt, Sunak, Hunt and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to divide up the biggest jobs. There is no indication the party will adopt the idea.

“The ship is sinking,” Walker said. “It’s a question of how many we can get into the lifeboats.”

--With assistance from Ellen Milligan, Emily Ashton, Alex Wickham and Alex Morales.

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