Conservative peer Lord Ed Vaizey has echoed calls for Liz Truss to step down, adding that there could be six Tory MPs vying to replace her.

Referencing earlier comments from MP Crispin Blunt, he says as well as Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak contending to lead the party, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman also "regards herself as a credible candidate".

"In terms of shocking self-belief, there will be five or six people out there who genuinely believe they could be prime minister," Vaizey said.

"If the Tory Party cannot have a degree of self-knowledge and realise the only way forward is to appoint someone, they're pretty much sunk."

He added that even if Sunak was appointed, he thinks there would be elements of the party who would potentially regard him as an "illegitimate" leader.

"It is a two-stage process, both of which are extremely difficult to effect - you have to appoint a leader and then have that leader lead a loyal parliamentary party that does what it's asked to do over the next two years," he said.