A minister has admitted that Liz Truss cannot afford to make any more mistakes after her economic strategy was torn up.
James Heappey was sent out on the airwaves on Tuesday morning following a humiliating 24-hours for the prime minister.
On Monday Truss had to sit in the Commons while the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt binned the mini-budget in front of her.
In a candid interview, Heappey conceded that Truss was in a perilous position, saying she could not afford to make any more mistakes.
The minister, who attends Cabinet, was asked by Sky News how many more errors Truss can make.
“I suspect given how skittish our politics are at the moment, not very many,” he said.
Pressed on how many, he said: “I don’t think there’s the opportunity to make any more mistakes.”
The armed forces minister also insisted that Truss remains the prime minister and is doing a “good job”.
“She’s very much our prime minister and for what it’s worth I think she’s doing a good job.”
Heappey also revealed that Truss was “absolutely” forced into U-turning on her mini-budget by the economic chaos.
“Absolutely. I don’t think anybody disputes that,” he said. “It was forced upon her for two reasons.”
He said the PM realised she had gone “too far and too fast” with a vast unfunded package of tax cuts during a difficult international economic picture.
Truss is battling to save her premiership after Hunt blew up her economic plans and shelved her plan to cut the basic rate of income tax by 1p.
Hunt also announced he would water down the PM’s flagship energy price guarantee, during an emergency statement yesterday morning.
His announcement was the latest in a string of embarrassing U-turns performed by the government as it tries to convince the City that it has control of the nation’s finances.
The government had already abandoned plans to scrap the 45p rate of income tax for top earners and had U-turned over a promise not to increase corporation tax.
It comes as some Tory MPs have publicly called for Truss to go while others are understood to be plotting an attempt to oust her as prime minister.
Five MPs have gone on the record saying she should step aside, including Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen, Jamie Wallis, Angela Richardson and Charles Walker.