Social media users mercilessly mocked Liz Truss amid speculation her days as Prime Minister are numbered.
Twitter was teeming with memes on Tuesday morning after Ms Truss’ economic policies were brutally torched overnight by her new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.
The British mocked the Prime Minister for “hiding” from the public eye while the British economy continued to slump. The comments stemmed from a remark by MP Stella Creasy, who accused Ms Truss of “crouching under her desk” when she failed to show up for a session of the House of Commons.
Ms Truss apologized to the nation for what is arguably her disastrous mini-budget, but social media users are still calling for her removal.
Many are also taking bets on how long the U-turn-prone Ms. Truss will stay in power, comparing her to Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker, whose portrayal of the Doctor ranks low among fans.
Meanwhile, Ms Truss has been warned by a senior minister that she cannot afford to make any more mistakes as she struggles to stay in No 10.
Social media users mercilessly mocked Liz Truss amid speculation her days as Prime Minister are numbered
In a BBC interview on Monday night, Ms Truss said she intends to lead the Conservative Party in the next general election.
She said she was “staying here” because she was “elected to deliver for this country,” adding, “I will lead the Conservatives to the next general election.”
“I will stay in the job to deliver for the national interest.”
However, Twitter users have hinted that her days as Prime Minister are numbered.
“Can Liz Truss survive this dying Time Lord?” one asked, sharing a photo of the PM and Ms Whittaker side by side.
Others asked, “Who would go first?” again comparing Ms. Truss and the actress.
Former MP General Nick Boles further discounted the likelihood of her fall and urged Sir Graham Brady to bingo wheel her successor.
Ms Truss also admitted to acknowledging and apologizing for the “mistakes” surrounding her mini-budget on Monday night.
She said she had “adjusted what we’re doing” after the government’s fiscal policy spooked markets, installing a new chancellor with a new strategy to “restore economic stability”.
“I think it’s the mark of an honest politician to say yes I made a mistake,” she said.
She said she wanted “to take responsibility and apologize for the mistakes that were made”.
“I wanted to act…help people with their energy bills, solve the problem of high taxes, but we went too far and too fast. I acknowledged that,’ she said.
Regardless, her remarks were met with negative reception from social media users, implying she didn’t discuss the economy until after the markets were closed because “they can’t refuel” when they’re closed.
Although Ms Truss has apologized for the mistakes she made over the ill-fated mini-budget and said she intends to continue leading the nation, having MPs crack down on her may not be her choice.
Armed Forces Secretary James Heappey said: “She is our Prime Minister and I think she is doing a good job.”
But he told Sky News that “given the rush of our politics” at the moment “I don’t think there’s an opportunity to make any more mistakes”.
He said Ms Truss “realized her mistake very quickly” but “there are people in the group who don’t want this to be the end”.
However, he insisted that many Tories recognize “this is a moment when this country needs its government to pull itself together and get back to business as usual”.
One of the factors keeping Ms Truss in office, despite being forced to abandon the economic platform that elected her Tory leader, is the lack of an obvious candidate to replace her.
Tory MPs are reluctant to host another leadership contest among Conservative members in what could take months and further damage the party’s reputation.
But avoiding competition would mean finding a consensus figure that would be acceptable to the majority of MPs.
Mr Heappey suggested the alternative to “rowing behind the Prime Minister and making her government successful is to plunge us into another period of great resentment” because the idea of a unity candidate was “for the birds”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The idea that there is someone who could come up and unite behind everyone in the Parliament Party and our membership and the country forgets everything that has happened in the last 15 months or so happened and we.’ You’re allowed to move on, I just don’t think that’s the case.’
Speaking to Times Radio, he admitted that no one at the Cabinet table thought the mini-budget, which was causing market turmoil with its £45bn in unfunded tax cuts, was a bad idea.
“It would be completely disingenuous to say that that morning when the mini-budget was presented to Cabinet, there was anyone at the table who said it was a bad idea,” he said.
“Each and every one of the actions it contained was consistent with a desire to drive growth.”
Under current party rules, Ms Truss is protected from a leadership challenge for 12 months, but that could change if enough Tory MPs call for it.
Five Tory MPs have openly called for their resignation, but behind the scenes many more have doubts about their ability to reverse the situation as Labor leads significant opinion polls.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Britain was a “global laughing stock” and that the nation was “lost” under Ms Truss.
She told BBC Breakfast: “It’s not enough just to get by – we should succeed and lead the world as a country.”
On Monday, Mr Hunt reversed almost all of the tax cuts announced by his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng in the September mini-budget to reassure markets that the government will pursue fiscal stewardship.
He alerted MPs that there would be decisions of “amazing difficulty” on taxes and spending.
