UK PM Liz Truss meets with Tory MP in charge of leadership votes

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is meeting Graham Brady, who represents rank-and-file Conservative lawmakers and ultimately decides rules for party leadership contests. An official said the meeting in Downing Street was unscheduled; Truss’s office said the premier had invited Brady.

The development is potentially extremely significant, with Truss’s premiership hanging by a thread following a series of missteps and humiliating U-Turns. Anger in the Tory party has intensified in the last 24 hours after Truss fired Home Secretary Suella Braverman and a Parliament vote descended into chaos.

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UK bonds rallied, easing earlier losses, as traders pared interest-rate bets amid doubts over whether Truss can cling onto power.

The pound flipped to gains, rising 0.1 percent to $1.1231.

No confident

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 on Twitter 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.

Meanwhile, another lawmaker in Britain's ruling Conservative Party submitted a letter of no confidence in Prime Minister Liz Truss, reported Reuters.

Jill Mortimer, a member of parliament for Hartlepool, said in a post on Facebook: “The deteriorating situation throughout the day left me with no choice but to submit a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister to Sir Graham Brady.”

Even the Cabinet minister sent out to speak for the government on its morning broadcast round did not 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.”

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.

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