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Work and pensions secretary Chloe Smith has unexpectedly pulled out of medi rounds this morning with increasing speculation that the Prime Minister Liz Truss could be forced out within days. The cancellation comes just days after Ms Truss sacked her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt while U-turning on plans to stop a major hike in Corporation Tax.<\/p>\n
Ms Smith was infamously the Treasury minister sent on to Newsnght by George Osborne in 2012 when Jeremy Paxman humiliated her over her inability to answer questions on fuel duty.<\/p>\n
Now with a new Chancellor Mr Hunt set to make an emergency statement today, the Government has pulled her from another broadcast media round with complete confusion in Whitehall and among ministers.<\/p>\n
Already another U-turn appears to be on the cards – the third major one since the disastrous mini-Budget – with plans for a 1p income tax cut set to be delayed again.<\/p>\n
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The weekend had seen fvered plotting by Tory MPs to replace Ms Truss who has only been in 10, Downing Street for 41 days.<\/p>\n
The chaos around her mini-Budget which triggered a collapse in the value of the pound and has led to a number of U-turns has badly hit the party in the polls.<\/p>\n
Even the most positive scenario leaves the Conservatives 24 points behind Labour with the Techne UK tracker poll for Express.co.uk.<\/p>\n
This would hand Labour a majority of more than 300, according to a projection on the Electoral Calculus website.<\/p>\n
Panicking Conservative MPs have been looking for a “unity candidate” to install as Prime Minister and avoid having another lengthy leadership election.<\/p>\n