Twelve Conservative MPs are planning to submit letters of no-confidence in Liz Truss if she wins the leadership election, according to reports.
In an astonishing plot, the rebel Tories are seeking to kickstart a leadership vote by Christmas in a bid to revive Boris Johnson’s chance of reclaiming the top job.
Speaking with the Sunday Mirror, one MP said: “In the worst of times Liz Truss is the worst possible choice for PM.”
Tory MPs hatching the plan will need to obtain 54 letters of no confidence in the new prime minister in order for a leadership challenge to take place.
Other party MPs have responded to the plot, with one quoted by the newspaper as saying: “This is madness. The country won’t wear 160,000 Conservative members choosing another PM, especially a retread. We’ll end up with a general election.”
The plotters have suggested they hope to reach the target of 54 letters by the new year.
Frontrunner Truss is widely expected to beat Rishi Sunak in the race to become Prime Minister on Monday.
It comes as David Davis, who backed Rishi Sunak in the contest, said it is “likely” Truss will become leader as he warned that she faces “probably the second most difficult brief” for a post-war prime minister.
“The only person with a worse brief coming in was Margaret Thatcher,” he told Sky News.
“It’s going be on a par with the furlough scheme in terms of it’s going to be tens of billions of costs.
“That is what should happen. It has to happen.
“It will involve, to some extent, putting your ideologies to one side.”
