Can Liz Truss survive? Tory dismay after day of chaos and horror show at press conference

Crisis-hit Prime Minister Liz Truss has only been in power for five weeks, but Tory MPs are already talking openly about replacing her.

The mood in Westminster is feverish following the economic turmoil caused by the calamitous mini budget, the sacking of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and another tax cut.

In a dramatic day, Mr. Kwarteng returned from Washington to be abruptly fired after a 38-day term as chancellor.

He was replaced by former Cabinet Minister Jeremy Hunt as Ms Truss frantically tried to stabilize the ship.

In a painful nine-minute press conference, Ms Truss admitted she had gone 'further and faster' than markets expected and made another sharp U-turn on her cutback plans taxes.

It has already rejected the decision to scrap the top tax rate of 45p and today confirmed a further cut in its proposal to scrap a planned rise in corporation tax.

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Mr. Hunt must now scramble to present the medium-term fiscal plan on October 31 in a Halloween showdown that could determine the government's future.

The embattled prime minister faces an uphill battle to woo the mutinous Tories, who openly plotted to oust their second leader within months.

And Ms. Truss's brief press conference - where she refused to apologize or resign - shouldn't quell the concern.

How angry are Conservative MPs?

The mood within the party was dire and today's events don't seem to have helped.

Tory backbencher Sir Christopher Chope yesterday told critics of the Prime Minister to 'shut up' and insisted she could lead the party to an election victory.

But today he expressed outrage at his U-turn on corporation tax, saying the Tories were a ‘laughing stock’.

"I'm probably like a lot of real conservatives in a state of desperation and utter disbelief, frankly," he told TimesRadio.