‘Jeremy Hunt is Liz Truss’s rescuer – or her coffin nail’: Global media asks if ‘time is running out’ for underfire British PM and say she is ‘clinging to power’ amid budget U-turn chaos

• Newspapers around the world are taking aim at Liz Truss over chaotic leadership
• They said Jeremy Hunt’s appointment and budget overhaul could be death knell 
• Many are questioning how long the leader can cling on to power 

British voters are questioning how long Liz Truss can cling on to power after her desperate attempt to stave off a coup with her budget U-turn.

And all around the world, the media is also taking aim at the beleaguered prime minister who only came to power 42 days ago.

Newspapers across the globe say the British leader is on her final legs and claim her new chancellor Jeremy Hunt could be the final nail in her coffin.

On a dramatic day, Mr Hunt reversed nearly all of her flagship policies and Ms Truss ducked a debate in the House of Commons, sending instead her mooted successor Penny Mordaunt. 

In Europe, the media has reacted with similar opprobrium to the British press, with Switzerland’s Blick newspaper reporting: ‘Hunt is Truss’s rescuer – or her coffin nail.’

Sweden’s Expressen declared ‘time is running out for Truss’, while Germany’s Bild asked: ‘Will British Prime Minister Truss fall this week?’

Switzerland’s Blick newspaper reported: ‘Hunt is Truss’s rescuer – or her coffin nail’ after a dramatic day

Sweden’s Expressen declared ‘time is running out for Truss’

Germany’s Bild asked: ‘Will British Prime Minister Truss fall this week?’

Spain’s El Mundo said the premier still ‘clings to power’ 

Italy’s Repubblica newspaper reported on Truss’s apology for her mistakes in her brief stint

In France, Le Figaro accused Truss of ‘backtracking’ and say she could break the record for the shortest ever PM

France’s Le Figaro said Ms Truss could break the record for the shortest term as PM in the history of the UK after ‘backtracking’ on her major spending overhaul plans.

Spain’s El Mundo said the premier still ‘clings to power’ while Italy’s La Repubblica led on her claims she has ‘solved’ her mistakes.

China also took a gleeful swipe at Britain, with the state-owned English language China Daily newspaper declaring: ‘Truss leadership in peril as storm clouds grow in UK.’

The Hong Kong based South China Morning Post said Ms Truss is ‘suffering the abject humiliation’ of having to completely abandon her economic programme and fire Kwasi Kwarteng.

They wrote: ‘The astonishing reversal – designed to bring stability to the financial markets after weeks of turmoil – leaves Truss in office but toothless and unable to proceed with the tax-cutting platform that won her the Conservative Party leadership contest.’

The New York Times, which has been slammed in recent months for its sneering coverage of Britain, featured an opinion essay with the headline: ‘Liz Truss is finished.’ 

The piece said Ms Truss has ‘ridden a roller coaster of ridicule’ and presided over a ‘disaster’ government.

After a ‘disastrous’ day for the PM, the Washington Post asked: ‘Is Liz Truss still in charge of Britain?’

The US paper said ‘British politics remains in turmoil’ after weeks of chaos sparked by the mini-budget which saw the pound plummet and interest rates soar.

The New York Times featured an opinion essay with the headline: ‘Liz Truss is finished’

After a ‘disastrous’ day for the PM, the Washington Post asked: ‘Is Liz Truss still in charge of Britain?’

The state-owned China Daily said Truss was ‘in peril’

Today, it appears the crisis is deepening, with more than half of Tory members wanting Ms Truss to quit with Boris Johnson the favourite to take the reins.

A bombshell YouGov survey revealed four in five party activists thought the PM was doing a bad job and 55 per cent were convinced she should go, compared to just 38 per cent who backed her staying. 

Her predecessor Mr Johnson was the preferred option as a replacement, with 32 per cent supporting him while 23 per cent said Rishi Sunak and 10 per cent Ben Wallace.

The brutal findings emerged as the PM held two hours of talks with Cabinet, and MPs consider whether and how to stage a coup in the wake of Mr Hunt’s extraordinary demolition of her flagship economic plans.

Having stubbornly failed to do so when she sacked Mr Kwarteng on Friday, Ms Truss belatedly apologised for the debacle last night in a BBC interview, conceding she had made ‘mistakes’ and gone ‘too far too fast’. 

A nervous-looking premier vowed that she will lead the party into the next election. 

She gave a similar message to the One Nation group of MPs last night. But Tories who attended compared it to a ‘corpse delivering its own eulogy’.

Senior backbencher Simon Hoare warned this morning that the party might need to focus on ‘avoiding a landslide defeat’, with polls showing Labour 36 points ahead.

Defence minister James Heappey insisted that Ms Truss had apologised more quickly than Boris Johnson did, but also signalled problems ahead as he warned he will quit if she cuts funding for the military. 

Having tried to appease her centrist MPs, Ms Truss will appear before the right-wing ERG group this evening – many of whom are angry that tax cuts have been ditched.

Much will hang on the stance taken by powerful 1922 chief Graham Brady, who met Ms Truss yesterday. 

There are suggestions he wants to hold off any action until the Budget on Halloween – when the Chancellor is expected to lay out a nightmare menu of £40billion of spending cuts.

With the tax burden now set to rise to the highest since 1950 and households facing £5,000 energy bills after the government announced its two-year ‘guarantee’ will in fact end in April, MPs are increasingly panicked about the prospect of voters giving their verdict.

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