Britain: Liz Truss’ future as PM hangs in the balance – How she could be kicked out of Downing Street

She is in a difficult position Liz Truss, just six weeks after her election as prime minister her Britain and her future in Downing Street hangs in the balance.

The word “chaos» prevails at headlines of British newspapers today to reflect yesterday’s nightmarish day at Westminster, where the fracking vote turned into a… kicker.

For Sun, the Liz Truss is devastated. Its prestige has collapsed after yesterday’s chaotic day, writes the British tabloid, adding that “the government is collapsing before our eyes.”

“The reality of Liz Truss’s power was fragile (…) but now it is doomed,” writes the editor of the Times’ main article.

Weakened in her own party, more unpopular than ever with public opinion, as reported by APE-MPE, Liz Truss has clung to power, but her situation is becoming less and less sustainable, after the collapse of her economic program and the removal of two of its top ministers.

Her government is being extended by the hour and, after twelve years in power, her party appears unable to agree on a successor to Ms.i refuses to face the possibility of early elections, which would send the Tories into opposition.

“Liz Truss must go as soon as possible,” wrote former minister and until recently staunch supporter David Frost in an article in the Daily Telegraph.

MP Crispin Blunt told the BBC this morning that “change is needed today to stop this cacophony and to give our country the government it needs”.

Meanwhile, another Tory MP, Cheryl Murray, announced today that she had submitted to the Commission 1922 letter of no confidence to Liz Truss.

A vote of censure

At the moment, the party’s internal rules protect any new leader from such a vote during the first 12 months in office.

After this deadline, must 15% of the 357 conservative MPs -ie 54- to send a letter of censure in order to initiate the process of such a vote.

However, the powerful 1922 Committee, which is responsible for the internal organization of the party, has the ability to change the rules. It remains to be seen what the threshold would be to start the process of a censure vote, with rumors swirling about the number of letters that have reached the office of Graham Brady, who heads the 1922 Commission.

And in the event of a defeat, Liz Truss would immediately lose the leadership of the party, but would remain prime minister until a successor was chosen.

The Commission would then have to set the rules for this process to choose a new leader, who would be the third in a year and the fifth since 2016.

But MPs do not appear to want to start a new long-running fight, the outcome of which would be decided by party members, and could get behind a unionist candidate. But again, the party must manage to agree on a name.

Early elections

The next parliamentary elections must be held by the end of 2024, but the government has the option of announcing them before this deadline. But for this to happen, Liz Truss would need the support of the majority of MPs.

Under the British Constitution, which is unwritten, they have three streets to express a lack of confidence in the prime minister, mainly by voting a motion of censure or voting against the budget.

In such a scenario, the head of government must resign or ask the king to dissolve parliament, which means general elections.

In the polls, the Labor opposition is recording its best performance in decades, while some studies predict the Conservatives will lose hundreds of seats.

So much so that it doesn’t seem likely that there will be enough conservative MPs who will join the opposition to trigger an election that is predicted to be disastrous for the majority government, which has been in power for 12 years.