Conservatives have two choices now, neither of them good. They can continue to intrigue against Liz Truss until they find a way to winkle her out of office, or they can attempt to pretend she is no longer really there and that her new chancellor Jeremy Hunt is really in charge.

Neither option is attractive either to the party or to the country, but the second choice has the appeal to some of her MPs of not requiring them to do anything yet. Truss is beyond a lame duck leader. With Hunt’s latest statement he has wiped out almost all of her growth strategy and policy platform. Her budget has ended up costing voters money and everyone knows it. She has no credibility with the electorate, colleagues or the markets. The upshot is that, quite brilliantly, the Conservatives have somehow contrived to have Rishi Sunak’s policies and Liz Truss’ presentation skills.

The Tories will not allow her to lead them into the next election, so the only question for them is when and how to remove her. The plotting has been ferocious but so far without clarity. There is no consensus on her replacement, on how to remove her and how to replace her without allowing party members another say. All can be resolved but so far nothing has. Tory MPs can and will defy calls for an immediate election once she is ousted — no one goes to the country when they stand at 19 per cent in the polls. But the moral argument for one will be very loud and powerful and could further weaken them when they do finally go the ballot box.