Senior members of the powerful 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers are believed to have met this evening, with executives suddenly “very tight lipped”, according to ITV’s Paul Brand.
Liz Truss met Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the powerful committee of backbench Tory MPs, earlier this afternoon, with Number 10 sources confirming the meeting, saying it was “private” and “pre-planned”.
As calls grow for the Prime Minister to go, it is likely that her lack of support among her own MPs came up.
Afterwards, Ms Truss appeared unreactive and stared straight ahead as she sat next to her new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in the Commons chamber.
More than 100 MPs are reportedly ready to submit letters of no-confidence to Brady in a bid to oust the PM.
While current rules mean Ms Truss should be safe from a confidence vote for 12 months, Tory backbenchers have been talking about how the “grace period” rule might be changed in bid to force Ms Truss out.
Around two thirds of the party’s nearly 360 MPs, roughly 240, would have to make clear they wanted the grace period rule changed before the committee would do so, a person familiar with deliberations told Bloomberg.
There may also be a delay because of the need for votes to fill two spaces on the committee’s executive created by the appointment of Aaron Bell and Nus Ghani to government posts. It is understood this will not be completed until Wednesday at the earliest.