Former Tory minister says game is up for Liz Truss as Prime Minister

Crispin Blunt said he does not think the Prime Minister can survive the current crisis and "it's now a question as to how the succession is managed".

It comes as senior Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said it is "very difficult" to say whether Liz Truss should continue as Prime Minister, and another senior Tory MP likened the Government to "libertarian jihadists".

Mr Blunt, who is the Conservative MP for Reigate and was a justice minister in the early years of David Cameron's premiership, backed Jeremy Hunt in the summer Tory leadership contest.

He told Channel 4's Andrew Neil Show: "I think the game is up and it's now a question as to how the succession is managed."

Asked how the party will get rid of her, he said: "If there is such a weight of opinion in the parliamentary party that we have to have a change, then it will be effected.

"Exactly how it is done and exactly under what mechanism - but it will happen."

Mr Hunt, widely seen now as the most powerful man in Government, insisted on Sunday that "the Prime Minister's in charge".

But former chancellor George Osborne, who is no longer an MP, told the Andrew Neil Show that Ms Truss will likely be gone "before Christmas".

Asked if Ms Truss can survive, he said: "Probably not. She is pino - Prime Minister in name only at the moment. And I would think the most likely outcome is that she falls before Christmas."

But he acknowledged "things are unpredictable" and said it is "possible to imagine a situation" where she "completely resets", albeit saying that was a "long shot".

Ms Kearns, who recently became the chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told Times Radio on Sunday: "Do I think the Government has a fundamental communications problem? Yes, I do.

"But I think it comes ultimately from the policy decisions they make. In a time of crisis, the public wants to see pragmatism. They want to see fiscal responsibility, and they want to see compassion. And dogmatism scares people.

"There is nothing wrong with some of the tax cuts they want to bring in, but if you don't bring the country with you, and you don't bring the markets with you, then you won't have their support."

Asked if Ms Truss could or should survive in Number 10, the Tory MP said: "Ultimately it is a very difficult one because I think, you know, we've had the questions around our moral competency. We've now got questions around our fiscal competency.

"I don't want further questions around even our ability to continue to govern as a party and our ability to stay united. It's an incredibly difficult one and, ultimately, I need to listen to colleagues and speak to colleagues over coming days.

"But do we need a fundamental reset? Without question."

The critical remarks come as another senior Conservative MP, Robert Halfon, said he wants an "apology and a fundamental reset".

Mr Halfon, chairman of the Commons Education Committee, declined to deny that MPs are considering installing a new leader.

"We're all talking to see what can be done about it.

"I worry that, over the past few weeks, the Government has looked like libertarian jihadists and treated the whole country as kind of laboratory mice on which to carry out ultra, ultra free market experiments. And this is not where the country is.

"There's been one horror story after another."

Mr Halfon said he is not calling on Ms Truss to go, but told Times Radio the Government needs a reset "pretty soon", adding: "I can't give you hours or days."

Former health secretary Matt Hancock said the Prime Minister needs to reshuffle her Cabinet.

Speaking to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg about the prospect of a leadership contest, Mr Hancock said: "I don't think we're there yet," but he added she needs to do three things: deliver an economically-credible plan, reshuffle her Cabinet, and restore trust.

"She needs to bring the broad Conservative Party in her Government. She needs a reshuffle," he said.