Liz Truss’s position as Prime Minister appears under threat as some Tory MPs call for her removal after a disastrous start to her premiership.
The prime minister sacked his chancellor and effectively abandoned his economic agenda in a bid to restore confidence in his administration after unveiling a mini-budget that sent markets crashing.
The reversals appear to have done little to quell growing unrest in the party, with MPs Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen and Jamie Wallis calling for her resignation on Sunday.
To lose his job as prime minister, he must either resign, his party must lose a general election, or he must lose a vote of confidence.
But current Conservative Party rules bar confidence votes for another 11 months and the next general election is not until the end of 2024.
Here we look at how the Prime Minister can be ousted.
What are the Conservatives’ rules for a vote of no confidence?
The Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee of Backbenchers ruled that the Prime Minister could not face a confidence vote in his first year in office.
Outside this period, 15 per cent of Tory MPs would have to submit letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, the committee chairman, for a vote to take place.
Members’ letters are kept by Sir Graham unless they are withdrawn, and he keeps their number secret.
At least 50 per cent of Tory MPs must then vote “no confidence” in a vote for the Prime Minister to lose. A leadership race will then begin.
But given the backlash against the Prime Minister, there is speculation that Tory MPs could circumvent the current rules.
What are their other options?
The executive director of the 1922 Committee could be forced to change the party’s rules to allow a vote if there is enough pressure from MPs.
If such a decision is made, Sir Graham is likely to raise the threshold of letters required for a vote from 15 per cent.
On the other hand, mounting criticism from within her own party could force Ms Truss to resign without a confidence vote.
Although Boris Johnson survived a confidence vote earlier this year, he was forced to resign relatively quickly afterwards due to a wave of mass resignations from his government – including cabinet ministers.
Regardless of the official rules for a confidence vote, if enough MPs table letters of no confidence to prove that Ms Truss cannot command her party or pass legislation, her hand is likely to be forced.
Will there be another Tory leadership contest?
If the rules are changed to allow a confidence vote, or if Ms Truss resigns, it could trigger a new leadership contest.
But the party may want to avoid repeating the long and often bitter process so soon.
The competition is usually held in two stages. In the first stage, conservative MPs stood as candidates.
All Conservative MPs then vote in a series of rounds to whittle the number of candidates down to just two.
The second stage of the race sees the remaining two candidates put to a vote by members of the Conservative Party.
Boris Johnson won the 2019 leadership race against Jeremy Hunt after Theresa May’s resignation and Mrs Truss won against Rishi Sunak after Mr Johnson’s resignation.
But if only one person is successfully nominated, he becomes unopposed leader without a vote of party members.
This happened when David Cameron left office and Theresa May was left as the last candidate after Andrea Leadsom withdrew.
The rules could theoretically be changed to try to ensure that only one person is nominated by significantly raising the threshold for nominations.
In the last competition, the support of 20 MPs was needed for a successful nomination.
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