Conservative MPs broke cover on Sunday to publicly demand Liz Truss resign as prime minister, as replacements wait in the wings.
Crispin Blunt, the veteran MP for Reigate, told Channel 4′s The Andrew Neil Show that Truss should quit “now” as “the game is up”.
Jamie Wallis, the MP for Bridgend, said “enough is enough”, revealing he had written to Truss to tell her “she no longer holds the confidence of this country”.
Andrew Bridgen, who is known for calling for Tory prime ministers to resign, wrote on his blog: “Liz has sunk her own leadership”.
Behind closed doors, many Tory MPs have already decided Truss needs to be replaced in light of market turmoil and tanking poll ratings.
One backbencher told HuffPost UK before the weekend: “Last week I’d have given her till Christmas. Now I think she’ll be gone by the end of the month.”
While a former minister said: “Things are just too bad now. She has to go.”
The move by some to go public on Sunday indicates the prime minister’s decision to sack Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor and replace him with Jeremy Hunt has not calmed things down.
In broadcast interviews on Sunday morning, Tory MPs stopped short of calling for Truss to resign but effectively put her on notice.
Robert Halfon, the chair of the Commons education committee, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday the PM had been acting like like a “libertarian jihadist” but said he was not calling for her to quit “at this time”.
In a separate interview with Times Radio, Halfon suggested the PM had “hours or days” to save her job.
Alicia Kearns, the new chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, told Times Radio it was “a very difficult one” when asked if Truss should remain in office.
“I need to listen to colleagues and speak to colleagues over the coming days. But do we need a fundamental reset? Without question,” she said.
Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, when asked if Tory MPs should install a new leader told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “I don’t think we’re there yet.”
But but he added Truss needed to do three things – deliver an economically-credible plan, reshuffle her cabinet and restore trust.
In an interview on the same show, Hunt, the new chancellor, insisted Truss remained “in charge” - despite him having essentially junked her entire mini-Budget.
Truss met with Hunt at Chequers on Sunday to plan the October 31 Budget that will unstitch much of the platform on which she won the leadership.
Hunt is now considered a possible replacement Tory leader and prime minister. Rishi Sunak, who lost out to Truss in the last contest is also seen as a likely candidate, as is cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt and defence secretary Ben Wallace.