A senior Conservative MP has warned Liz Truss has "12 hours" to save her job as her government is on the brink of collapse following another chaotic day at Westminster.
The Prime Minister was forced to replace her Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Wednesday after the right-wing MP resigned over sending a confidential document from her personal email. She was replaced by Truss critic Grant Shapps.
In the House of Commons speculation grew into the evening that 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 - more than two hours after the vote - No 10 issued a statement saying both remained in post.
Tory MPs are wondering how long the Prime Minister can go on following the chaotic events, but a Cabinet ally said "at the moment" Truss will still lead the party into the next election.
Simon Hoare, chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland Committee, was unable to say whether the country has a functioning Government and gave Truss a number of hours to survive.
He said: "I think it has a Government that wants to function," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, but it is engaged in daily "hand-to-hand fighting".
Asked if Truss is "up to the job", he said: "I think she could be. I think it's... one can't say hand on heart today that there is a... if this was a career review, an employer sitting in front of a person looking at performance and outcomes etc, then the score sheet isn't looking very good.
"But I'm a glass-half-full sort of person. Can the ship be turned around? Yes. But I think there's about 12 hours to do it. I think today and tomorrow are crunch days."
There is speculation that the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, has already received more than 54 letters calling for a confidence vote in the Prime Minister, the threshold for triggering one if Truss was not in the 12 months' grace period for new leaders.
Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker told ITV's Peston: "The Prime Minister cannot be removed; whether she goes or not is up to her."
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