NORTH Dorset MP Simon Hoare has said the next 24 or 48 hours are ‘crunch days’ for Liz Truss’ future as Prime Minister.

Conservative Mr Hoare, who has been an MP since 2015, told the BBC’s Today programme there was a pretty ‘shredded level of confidence in the Conservative party’ across the country following weeks of conflict following Ms Truss taking on the role.

He said: “I think this country has a government that wants to function, but seems to be just buffeted by a lot of bad luck and a huge amount of events all coming in.

“I don’t think anyone’s ever known a more febrile time.”

He said Tory MPs were feeling ‘anger’, ‘despair’ and ‘sadness’ amid recent events which have seen the party plunge in the opinion polls.

“As Conservatives, we believe our philosophical world view is the best for this country,” he said.

“Maybe this sounds maybe old-fashioned but we actually think that it’s a significant honour to be asked by the British people, to be asked to form a government, to deliver a programme, and there is a real sadness that all of that good work that has been done over recent years seems to be dissolving before our eyes.”

And he said the party was struggling to get to grips with recent events.

Mr Hoare added: “The unsettling thing is that there isn’t a route plan … it’s sort of hand-to-hand fighting on a day-to-day basis and it’s unsettling.

“I think we’ve got ministers who have a programme of work that they want to deliver, we’ve got a good working majority in the House of Commons to be able to deliver it, it just seems we’re unable to pause long enough take a deep enough breath, let the dust settle and work out a plan of action.

“I think what clearly now Number 10 and the whips’ office should be doing is narrowing down the programme, cutting out the contentious stuff that people are uncomfortable with and try and focus on doing three or four things supremely well, which then of itself gives confidence to the processes of Parliament and begins to restore

what is a pretty shredded level of confidence in the Conservative party in the country.”

He said the vote over the Bill to ban fracking, which prompted claims of bullying in the voting lobbies, was ‘chaotic’.

“It was chaotic, it was noisy, because usually you go into the lobby, you face in one direction and you walk through.

“Because (of) ‘was it a confidence vote? Wasn’t it a confidence vote? What was going to happen?’, people were coming in and out, so it was like Paddington station in the rush hour.

“It was confusing, there was a lot of upset. Fracking is an enormously emotive issue. Many of us are diametrically opposed to it and wanted to vote in a certain way, but it then became a confidence vote and so it was pandemonium.

“I’m afraid it appears slightly now as a pictorial reference of the whole of the day really.”

On Liz Truss’ future as Prime Minister, he said the coming days would be crucial.

“I think she could be (up to the job),” he said. “One can’t say, hand on heart today, if this was a career review – an employer sitting in front of a person looking at performance, outcomes etc – the scoresheet isn’t looking good.

“Can the ship be turned around? Yes, but I think there’s about 12 hours to do it. I think today and tomorrow are crunch days.

“I’ve never known … a growing sense of pessimism in all wings of the Tory party. Usually it’s one or the other, but to have it all across the party should be ringing alarm bells in Number 10 and Number 11.”