Senior Tories are said to be plotting to replace Liz Truss with Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt as the prime minister comes under pressure just 37 days into her leadership.
The embattled PM is said to be mulling a second mini-Budget U-turn as speculation grows that her days are numbered.
One backbench Tory MP claimed on Thursday night: “I suspect she’ll be gone within weeks. It’s a certainty”.
The MP added: “The libertarian freakshows from Tufton street need to accept that their entryism has failed. It’s going to be nipped in the bud. From now on their pamphlets will go back to gathering dust.”
Cabinet ministers paved the way for a possible climbdown on scrapping a £19billion-a-year hike in corporation tax.
Doing away with former Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s tax hike was a flagship policy during Ms Truss’s Tory leadership campaign and a U-turn would deliver a devastating blow to her authority.
Former MP Paul Goodman said “one idea doing the rounds” among backbenchers is that Mr Sunak and Penny Mordaunt could “take over” from Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and Ms Truss.
Tonight it was reported the idea of a joint ticket is being discussed among senior Tories wanting a "coronation" if the Prime Minister falls.
One MP told The Times: "Rishi's people, Penny's people and the sensible Truss supporters who realise she's a disaster just need to sit down together and work out who the unity candidate is".
But one senior Tory MP said it is “premature” for the party to think about getting rid of Ms Truss, adding that it would be seen as “completely bonkers to have three prime ministers in one year”.
Meanwhile, Mr Kwarteng will fly back to London from meetings in Washington, DC today for crunch talks with the PM.
In an interview from the US capital, Mr Kwarteng was defiant. Asked whether he and Ms Truss would still be in post next month, he replied: “Absolutely 100%. I am not going anywhere.”
He insisted the position on the disastrous mini-Budget “has not changed”, but dodged questions over whether he will still scrap the rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25% in April 2023.
“I will come up with the medium-term fiscal plan on October 31 and there will be more detail then,” he said. “What I’m totally focused on is delivering on the mini-Budget.”
Downing Street said “work is ongoing between the Chancellor and the Prime Minister ahead of the medium-term fiscal plan”. A spokeswoman would not be drawn on the nature of the discussions nor the possible scrapping of the corporation tax commitment.
The potential U-turn would come less than a fortnight after Ms Truss had to abandon her proposal to abolish the 45p rate of tax for those earning over £150,000.
After just five weeks in No10, one ex-cabinet minister said there is already talk of letters of no confidence among MPs.
Another MP claimed Ms Truss’s authority “is seeping away in front of us” and she could be forced out.
Former Home Secretary Priti Patel urged her party leader to stick to the 2019 manifesto which swept Boris Johnson to power, saying it was “vital”.
Alicia Kearns, newly elected as the chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested tax cuts should be scrapped to calm the “spooked” markets.
Former minister Johnny Mercer described the impact on mortgage holders and people seeking to buy a home as “politically unsurvivable”.
Leading pollster Prof Sir John Curtice said yesterday Ms Truss was now as unpopular as the former Tory leader Sir John Major after Black Wednesday in 1992.
He said: “She is more unpopular than Boris Johnson was at the worst period of his premiership, which was in the middle of January when the Partygate scandal was at its height.
“She finds herself at much the same level of popularity as John Major the last time a Conservative administration got into trouble with the markets.”
He added: “She’s got two problems. One is she isn’t really liked. Her personality is not one that warms to the general public. And, secondly, now she is regarded as incompetent.”
An ex-Cabinet minister said MPs are no longer talking of a Tory victory at the next general election. They said: “People are talking about how we can minimise our losses. People are very exposed, very nervous. Even people with 12,000, 14,000 majorities.”
They added that the question has been raised about a “consensus candidate” to avoid a drawn out leadership contest if Ms Truss is ousted.
But Foreign Secretary and close ally of the Prime Minister James Cleverly said yesterday: “I think changing the leadership would be a disastrously bad idea politically and economically.”
International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch urged rebellious MPs to “get behind” Ms Truss.
The PM’s guru Professor Patrick Minford also claimed it would be “insane” to rip up the mini-Budget.
He said: “It’s really important we don’t do something really stupid at this point. Liz Truss ’s policies for growth are absolutely right.”
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Government was in “utter chaos”. She added: “The PM has been in office for one month and has caused so much damage. The public are sick of it.”
