Tory MPs call for 'unifying figure' to be next PM - but can't agree on who it should be

Just 24 hours after calling herself a "fighter not a quitter" she announced her resignation in front of Number 10.

Looking relieved following a chaotic end to her premiership, Ms Truss said: "I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party."

Her 44-day reign makes her the shortest serving PM in British history. A leadership contest is underway with the winner expected to be announced next Friday.

Tory MPs across the Black Country and Staffordshire have now called for a unity candidate to succeed Ms Truss, with Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and former PM Boris Johnson all touted as possible successors.

Mr Johnson – who left Number 10 last month after his own MPs turned on him – was last night said to considering what would be a sensational and controversial return.

There were mixed views among Tory MPs on Ms Truss's tenure, with one describing her departure as a "terrible loss", while others maintained she was right to step down in the wake of her disastrous mini-budget.

Meanwhile Labour has called for a general election, saying the Tories had "totally failed" the country.

Mike Wood, Conservative MP for Dudley South, said Rishi Sunak was the "outstanding candidate" to succeed Ms Truss.

He said the PM standing down was "clearly the right thing to do", and added: "She'd lost all authority from a series of mistakes on the economy, and the measures she brought in to correct some of those mistakes meant that it was going to be impossible for her to lead either the country or the Conservative Party effectively.

"It is important now that we get a new Prime Minister in place quickly to stabilise the economy and set us back on that path to growth so that families in the Black Country can be confident that their mortgages and their jobs are secure.

"We need a government that can bring people together rather than settle old scores."

Stourbridge MP Suzanne Webb, who worked closely with Ms Truss as her parliamentary private secretary, said her departure was a "terrible loss".

Marco Longhi accused his parliamentary party of "failing the electorate" as he called for the return of Boris Johnson as Tory leader.

The Dudley North MP said the former PM was "the only person that commands that authority" to lead the Tories following Ms Truss' resignation.

"A ‘coronation’, a leadership election by MPs only, would be unacceptable to me so the only person who can discharge the mandate from the people is Boris," he told the Express & Star.

"When Boris left, the Conservative membership wanted different candidates to the ones that MPs selected – that is clear. Time and time again MPs seem to fail their electorate and it is the electorate that must be served in a real Democracy.

"I am calling for Boris to come back, he has my full support, just as he had it before."

Michael Fabricant, Tory MP for Lichfield, also backed Mr Johnson for a return, reiterating comments he made earlier in the year when compared the Tories' decision to force the former PM's resignation as when the Labour Party "knifed" Tony Blair. He said it was "essential" party members had a say in Ms Truss's successor, and not just MPs.

We must move swiftly forward to stabilise the nation and the economy for the benefit of the British people," he said. "We need stability not turbulence."

Mr Fabricant added the he felt "very sad for Liz Truss", and blamed her former Chancellor for her downfall.

She inherited rising interest rates worldwide, a £40 billion pound hole in our finances following on from furlough payments and other expenditure arising from Covid, and a war in Europe where the UK has played a major part in the supply of equipment and training.

“But she could have survived had it not been for Kwarsi Kwarteng’s ‘grand experiment’ of his mini-budget. The reversal of her economic policies caused her to lose the confidence of many in the Parliamentary Conservative Party and the country."

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, described the situation as a "complete mess", adding: "I know people across the West Midlands feel utterly let down at a time when they face immense pressures in their daily lives.

"We are all crying out for strong and consistent leadership, and I dearly hoped we’d get it. But now the Conservative Party has one last chance to pull itself together, unite behind a new leader, and deliver what it was elected to do."

Labour's Shadow Secretary to the Treasury, Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden, said Ms Truss's legacy would be the "economic chaos" that stemmed from the mini-budget.

"The solution cannot be another whirl on the Tory merry-go-round of chaos," he said. "We have to have a general election now."

He added: "Her legacy is the economic chaos stemming from the mini-budget, the loss of economic credibility and the one policy she defended - the energy price cap freeze - is the one policy she campaigned against all summer in her opposition to what she called 'handouts'."

The senior Labour politician, on rumours Boris Johnson could make a return to Number 10, said: "Boris Johnson left office in disgrace. He is still under investigation and the Tory Party cannot look to him to be their savour."

John Spellar, Labour MP for Warley, said the leadership contest - although it is being "sped up" - was undemocratic, with the process not even representing the choice of Conservative voters "or the voters they need to win" over.