‘The game is up’: Tory MP Crispin Blunt says Liz Truss is finished and WILL be toppled as Prime Minister by her own party – as Archbishop of Canterbury becomes her latest critic with blast at ‘immoral’ economic plan
- Blunt said he does not think the Prime Minister can survive the current crisis
- Told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show that ‘I think the game is up’ for her
- Told broadcaster: ‘It’s now a question as to how the succession is managed’
- Archbishop of Canterbury became the latest critic of her mini-Budget
- Speaking in Australia Justin Welby said trickle down economics were ‘immoral’
A Tory MP went over the top and publicly declared that the ‘game is up’ for Liz Truss and it is now a question of how, not if, she is replaced at Prime Minister.
Former minister Crispin Blunt told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show that he does not think the Prime Minister can survive the current crisis.
While many Tories have said that the PM is on her way out behind the scenes he is the first to publicly say her days are numbered, despite axing chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in a bit to keep hold of power.
The intervention by the Reigate MP – who is himself quitting the Commons at the next election – came as the Archbishop of Canterbury became the latest critic of her mini-Budget.
Speaking on a tour of Australia Justin Welby said plans to cut taxes for the rich and rely on trickle down economics were ‘immoral’.
Mr Blunt told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show that he does not think the Prime Minister can survive the current crisis.
‘I think the game is up and it’s now a question as to how the succession is managed,’ he said.
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.’
Former minister Crispin Blunt told Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show that he does not think the Prime Minister can survive the current crisis.
The intervention by the Reigate MP – who is himself quitting the Commons at the next election – came as the Archbishop of Canterbury became the latest critic of her mini-Budget.
Speaking on a tour of Australia Justin Welby said plans to cut taxes for the rich and rely on trickle down economics were ‘immoral’.
Mr Welby clashed with the Government of previous PM Boris Johnson on a range of issues and he again spoke out while Down Under.
He told the Guardian he could see no ‘moral case’ for a budget that disproportionately hit the poorest, adding: ‘I’m not going to make a party political point because both parties are deeply divided and I’m not going to talk about Australia because I just don’t know the situation. But in the UK, the priority is the cost of living, with the poorest.
‘And from an economics point of view, I’m deeply sceptical about trickle-down theory.
‘You know, if you cut money for the rich, ever since Keynes wrote his general theory in 1936, whenever it was, he showed very clearly that the rich save if they’ve got enough to live on.
‘So if you want to generate spending in the economy, you put more money into the hands of those who need the money to buy food, to buy goods, to buy basic necessities.’
It came as new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt insisted Liz Truss remains ‘in charge’ of the Government today as he prepared to meet the Prime Minister hours after binning her new economic plan.
The new Chancellor will hold a summit with the PM at her Chequers country retreat after denying he was leading a ‘silent coup’ and warning of major public spending cuts and tax rises to come.
Amid claims that Tories are still plotting to replace the Prime Minister, Mr Hunt is expected to follow up her Friday climbdown on increasing Corporation Tax by axing the mini-Budget’s plan to cut the basic rate of income tax by 1p to 19p.
Within a day of taking the keys to No11 the new chancellor’s actions – not denied in a media round today – mean none of the three main strands of the ‘Trussonomics’ package from just three weeks ago remains.
As well as Friday’s Corporation tax reversal – it will now rise from 19 per cent to 25 per cent – the decision to axe the 45p income tax rate for the highest earners was embarrassingly reversed during the Conservative Party Conference.
There are also suggestions that he may also renege on plans to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP.
Appearing on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Hunt said he wants to keep as many of Liz Truss’s tax cuts as he can but all options remain open.
Telling Sunday with Luara Kuenssberg that ‘the Prime Minister’s in charge’, he said: ‘We’re going to have to take some very difficult decisions both on spending and on tax. Spending is not going to increase by as much as people hoped … taxes are not going to go down as quickly as people thought and some taxes are going to go up,’ he said.
And he also said no Government department would be immune from ‘efficiency savings’, as he signalled spending cuts to come.
Asked if it was a return to the austerity brought in by the 2010 coalition, he said: ‘I don’t think we are going to have anything like that this time.’
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