Liz Truss has met the senior Conservative responsible for establishing whether she commands the confidence of her MPs as she battles an open revolt after a calamitous 24 hours.
Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister invited Sir Graham Brady, the powerful chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, to No 10 in a hastily-arranged meeting on Thursday.
One person in No 10 said Ms Truss was “taking the temperature” of Tory MPs with Sir Graham after the number publicly demanding her resignation doubled within hours to more than a dozen, following the chaotic scenes in the Commons after the loss of a Cabinet minister.
As Conservatives wondered how long she would remain in power, Ms Truss acknowledged a “difficult day” in her premiership but insisted she wants to push on, her official spokesman said.
He was briefing journalists as Sir Graham was seen entering No 10 through a back door and was unaware the meeting had been arranged. Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey was also seen going in.
“The Prime Minister acknowledges yesterday was a difficult day and she recognises the public wanted to see the Government focussing less on politics and more on delivering their priorities,” the official said.
“That is also what the Prime Minister wants.”
He insisted she is focussed on delivering economic stability after making a “number of difficult decisions” including over the ministerial code, in a move that saw Suella Braverman out as home secretary.
The spokesman was insistent that there are “no plans for any change” and that Ms Truss “will continue beyond” the new fiscal plan scheduled for October 31.
Others were less sure of her security, with Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan insisting only that, “at the moment”, she believes Ms Truss will lead the party into the next election.
Senior backbencher Simon Hoare was unable to say whether the country has a functioning Government as he gave Ms Truss “12 hours” to fix the situation.
The pound, which faced a battering over the disastrous mini-budget, slid again as City traders digested the growing turmoil in Westminster.
Seven MPs demanded her exit before lunch was over, with the number expected to rise further – and with the scale of private demands believed to be far higher.
Veteran Tory Sir Gary Streeter said it now seems they must change leader but warned the Tories could still face “slaughter at the next election” even if “angel Gabriel” took over.
Sheryll Murray said Ms Truss’s position was “untenable” after ugly scenes including allegations of bullying in the Commons and No 10 unable to say for hours whether the whips had quit.
Miriam Cates told Times Radio “it’s time for the Prime Minister to go”, with Henry Smith demanding she does the “honourable thing” in order to get “solid leadership”.
Tory Jill Mortimer said the “deteriorating situation” on Wednesday left her with no choice but to submit a letter of no confidence to Sir Graham.
But who would succeed Ms Truss remained a major point of contention, with Steve Double demanding a unity candidate such as Rishi Sunak after Ms Truss “lost control”.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, however, was tipping Boris Johnson, forced out just months ago over a series of scandals, to take over again.
The turmoil appeared to be affecting the pound as sterling declined by 0.27% to 1.119 against the US dollar – its lowest reading this week.
The events of Wednesday saw Ms Braverman lash out at Ms Truss’s “tumultuous” premiership as she resigned and accused the Government of “breaking key pledges” including on immigration policy.
Her departure, just five days after Kwasi Kwarteng’s sacking as chancellor, means the Prime Minister has lost two people from the four great offices of state within her first six weeks in No 10, with all eyes on whether other Cabinet ministers could follow suit.
The exodus appeared to continue, with speculation chief whip Wendy Morton and her deputy Craig Whittaker had resigned in fury at the handling of a vote on a Labour motion over fracking.
At 9.49pm – over two hours after the vote – No 10 issued a statement saying both remained in post.
In an extraordinary further update at 1.33am, Downing Street said the Prime Minister has “full confidence” in both of them.
It came after climate minister Graham Stuart told the Commons minutes before the vote that “quite clearly this is not a confidence vote”, despite Mr Whittaker earlier issuing a “100% hard” three-line whip, meaning any Tory MP who rebelled could be thrown out of the parliamentary party.
No 10 later said Mr Stuart had been “mistakenly” told by Downing Street to say the vote should not be treated as a confidence motion, and that Conservative MPs were “fully aware” it was subject to a three-line whip.
A spokesman said the whips would be speaking to the Tories who failed to support the Government, and those without a “reasonable excuse” would face “proportionate disciplinary action” – although that does not necessarily mean whey would have the whip removed.
The confusion led to ugly scenes at Westminster, with Cabinet ministers Therese Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg among a group of senior Tories accused of pressuring colleagues to go into the “no” lobby, with Labour former minister Chris Bryant saying some MPs were “physically manhandled into another lobby and being bullied”.
Business Secretary Mr Rees-Mogg insisted he had seen no evidence of anyone being manhandled, but senior Tory MP Sir Charles Walker said what took place was “inexcusable” and “a pitiful reflection on the Conservative Parliamentary Party”.
Ms Trevelyan told Sky News it is “never acceptable” for MPs to be “manhandled” into voting, adding she was “shocked” by reports from the Commons.
She said Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle would be investigating “to ensure that these scenes and indeed these situations do not happen again”.
Tory rebels were confused over whether they still had the party whip, with Siobhan Baillie saying: “I don’t know but I hope so.”
There is speculation that Sir Graham has already received more than 54 letters calling for a confidence vote in the Prime Minister, the threshold for triggering one if Ms Truss was not in the 12-month grace period for new leaders.
