Liz Truss 'loses control' of party discipline after tax U-turn

In her first speech as leader in Birmingham later today she will defend her “new approach” which she admits will cause “disruption” to the country.

The Prime Minister on Monday has already seen one u-turn after senior Tory MPs forced her and Kwasi Kwarteng to ditch the abolition of the 45 per cent top rate of tax.

Last night one senior Tory MP told The Yorkshire Post that Ms Truss had “completely lost control” of the party, despite a pledge to try and unify the Conservatives that had descended into months of in-fighting under Boris Johnson.

In response to whether the Government should stick to its previous pledge of raising benefits in line with inflation, Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the House of Commons, told Times Radio yesterday that it “made sense” to ditch any proposed cut.

Robert Buckland, the Welsh Secretary, later became the second cabinet minister to oppose the move, saying: “I’ve always had the back of people in need.”

Ms Truss said she would not sack Ms Mordaunt for her comments, and that any decision on whether benefits will be raised in line with earnings or inflation would be set out at a later date by the Work and Pensions Secretary.

Ms Mordaunt’s view was shared by several senior Tories, including Michael Gove, Iain Duncan-Smith, Mel Stride and Andrew Mitchell, as Ms Truss saw another day of criticism of her policy platform.

Mr Mitchell said the party’s whips were asking MPs if the move would have their support, following reports that Sir Graham Brady met Liz Truss on the eve of her tax U-turn to warn her that her plan to abolish the top rate of tax would fail in Parliament.

It is also understood the Chancellor is considering bringing forward his medium-term fiscal plan and OBR forecast.

The Prime Minister is not only coming under pressure from MPs who do not back her plans, but also those who disagreed with the speed at which she dropped her policies when criticised.

Both Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, and Simon Clarke, the Levelling Up Secretary, said they were “disappointed” that Ms Truss had U-turned on the cut to the top rate of tax.

Ms Braverman went on to accuse those such as Michael Gove of orchestrating “a coup” against the Prime Minister by talking down the policy, with Mr Clarke adding that the Home Secretary “speaks a lot of sense”.

She was later chastised by colleagues for her choice of words, with senior Tory Simon Hoare saying that “representing one’s constituents is not a coup” while International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said her language was “just too inflammatory”.

All of this has contributed to questions over whether Ms Truss can continue as leader, with some in Government feeling they can neither remove the Prime Minister, nor allow the situation to continue.

Grant Shapps, the former transport secretary, yesterday said that MPs would not “sit on their hands” if Ms Truss needed to be ousted.

Nadine Dorries yesterday reiterated her comments that the Prime Minister should call a general election. “We have no mandate from the people to do this,” she tweeted.

It came as a new poll from Redfield and Wilton Strategies found that Labour now had a 38 per cent lead in the Red Wall, up from 15 per cent only two weeks ago.