Newspaper headlines: 'Time up' as 'Truss clings on by sacking Kwarteng'

  • Author, 鶹Լ News
  • Role, Staff

Images of a somewhat downcast Liz Truss appear on many of the front pages. says the prime minister's first 38 days in office have proved some of the most shambolic in British political history - after what it describes as "another day of barely believable Tory chaos". The paper asks: "how much more can she - and the rest of us - take?"

"Government imploding", is as MPs plot to oust her.

The Times quotes a source who says Kwasi Kwarteng, the former chancellor, believes that "the wagons are circling" for the PM. The paper also quotes a Whitehall source as saying that senior civil servants are now openly talking about her departure, adding: "They think she's had it."

In a comment piece, Quentin Letts says Ms Truss stuck to her script in a meagre, nine-minute press conference - then "skedaddled" after taking just four questions. And what was remarkable, he writes, was how "zoned-out" she remained during this "excruciating, probably ruinous sequence".

Image source, Reuters

. It says Conservative grandees are expected to visit her imminently to say that crumbling support on the backbenches means "the game is up".

and . However, the .

. In its editorial, the paper says her government has got off to the worst start of any in Britain's post-war history and has been forced into another "devastating" U-turn. It warns Ms Truss faces a monumental struggle to convince her MPs she is capable of rehabilitating her own and her party's image, and of leading Britain forward. The paper concludes that if Tory MPs move against her quickly, that would be "welcome" - but the next leader of the country should then be settled by a general election.

Image source, Reuters

- and its editorial asserts that the PM's "terse" press conference, "devoid of contrition", served only to prove to MPs that she is incapable of improving.

However, . It argues that although they fumbled the execution disastrously, Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng were right in their central analysis - and it's no time for Tory MPs to go wobbly.

The . Its front page pictures a lettuce alongside Liz Truss, with the question: "How long can Wet Lettuce Liz Romaine?" The paper has then gone one step further and set up a live stream online - so the public can monitor which lasts longer: a 60p Tesco lettuce or Ms Truss' time in office.