The number of MPs publicly calling for Liz Truss to resign is rising steadily (you can read the live list here). There are also a number of key meetings taking place over the next few days that could seal the Prime Minister's fate for her. The 1922 executive is due to meet later. I am also told that the influential 92 Group of right-leaning Conservative MPs has invited its members to a meeting on Monday night 'to discuss the current situation'.
The 92 Group might normally be the best group to bolster Truss's position. The Prime Minister could – and according to some members, should – gatecrash the meeting to set out her stall to like-minded colleagues. But by the time they meet, the members may have concluded that the time for bolstering has passed. It is worth noting that the meeting isn't until Monday, which gives us an idea of the timeline of events that may unfold. Many MPs have already gone back to their constituencies, which means there is unlikely to be a parliamentary move against the Prime Minister today. That doesn't mean there won't be a different sort of push against her: it is conceivable that Sir Graham Brady goes to her and advises her that there are so many letters in his safe calling on her to quit that the time has come. It could also be that other ministers resign within the next few days, though the sentiment on the back benches seems to be stronger than that among the payroll.
It is remarkable that Tory MPs are having to remind one another that before the drama in the voting lobbies last night, the Home Secretary was sacked and replaced by someone who has been openly plotting against the Prime Minister. Cabinet Office minister Brendan Clarke-Smith has been answering an urgent question in the Commons on Suella Braverman's departure. That question was tabled by Labour's shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper but Clarke-Smith was sent to answer. He said he was there because the change of Home Secretary was a matter for the Cabinet Office. But it also allowed him to deflect the constant questions from Conservative backbenchers about whether the changing of the guard meant the government was going soft on immigration. Scott Benton, for instance, warned that it would be a 'huge mistake if the government were to soften its tough line'.
Others asked for reassurance – which they didn't get – that Grant Shapps wouldn't change course. Shapps knows the party well and understands what makes it tick. But unlike Braverman, he's not given to freelancing. It was Braverman who unilaterally declared that the government should be aiming for net migration to be in the tens of thousands. She made that remark without Downing Street's blessing to my colleague Fraser Nelson at a Spectator fringe event at Tory conference. It pleased a lot of backbenchers, and will be something she continues to push for from the backbenches herself. Indeed, Truss is going to find herself pushed around by all parts of her party in the coming days, before at some point being pushed herself.
