Truss leadership in peril as storm clouds grow in UK

British Prime Minister Liz Truss' tenure in Downing Street is under increasing threat after less than two months, as members of Parliament from her governing Conservative Party are already reportedly discussing ways to remove her from power.

In early September, Truss won a head-to-head contest against former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, voted for by grassroots Conservative Party members, to replace Boris Johnson as the party and national leader.

Her first days in office were dominated by the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II. And as normal political life began to resume, Truss told a Sky News interview on Sept 20 that she was "prepared to be unpopular" with her policies to revive Britain's economy.

The "mini-budget" announced by her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was built on heavy tax cuts, but the global reaction to them saw the pound crash in value and interest rates rise, causing a huge backlash that culminated in Kwarteng being sacked after just 38 days in office, making him the second-shortest serving chancellor in history.

An unconvincing appearance by Truss at a news conference the same day failed to calm nerves, and the ongoing very public government disarray has seen the opposition Labour Party open up a huge lead in opinion polls of voter intention at the next election.

Truss was put in power by a vote of members, rather than Conservative MPs, who consistently favored Sunak through rounds of leadership contest voting that led to them being the final two candidates.

Now, the Daily Mail newspaper reported that more than 100 MPs either have or are about to send letters of no confidence in Truss to Graham Brady, head of the party committee that organizes leadership contests.

They are expected to say that with public confidence so low, she needs to be told her time as leader is already up, or that the party's own rules need to be changed to allow a confidence vote on her leadership to take place, although Brady is thought to favor more time being given to Truss and new chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

Over the weekend, the first few MPs publicly declared their lack of confidence in her leadership, and The Times newspaper also reported that discussions about Truss' successor have taken place.

Were Truss to be replaced, her successor would be the fourth consecutive Conservative leader to enter Downing Street without having won a general election first.

In 2016, Theresa May took over after David Cameron resigned following the Brexit referendum. And in 2019, May was replaced by Johnson, who was in turn replaced by Truss.