Liz Truss tomorrow faces a showdown with her Cabinet who will order her to ditch plans to slash vital benefits payments to the poor.
The blundering PM’s bid to snatch hundreds of pounds from 5.7million people on Universal Credit has sparked a backlash in her own party.
One Tory backbencher last night branded her approach to benefits “ludicrous” and “stupid” amid a warning her cruel policy will be blocked.
And a Tory source said: “There is no way it gets through, the Cabinet is leading the revolt.”
The rebellion within an already divided party started when Ms Truss declared she wants to break Boris Johnson’s promise to increase benefits in line with rising prices and make them align with average earnings instead.
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But the Child Poverty Action Group warned that will push 200,000 more children into poverty.
A single jobless adult would lose £185, a single disabled adult £380 and a working couple with two children £752, according to the Resolution Foundation.
The Tory backbencher predicted Ms Truss’s bid to cut welfare in real terms will “quietly fizzle out” as many MPs are opposed to it. They also warned the PM faces an almighty fight if she tries to push a benefits cut to a vote.
The insider added: “The suggestion we can afford a tax cut for the highest earners but not a benefits rise, that was particularly stupid.”
Former veterans minister Johnny Mercer said: “My desire is for the party to deliver real change for people who need it.”
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Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves accused the Tories of “scrapping like cats in a sack” as ordinary people suffer.
In an article on Mirror online, she wrote: “Tory MPs need to wake up and tune into the reality their constituents are facing.”
Former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling branded Ms Truss’s mini-Budget, which contained the benefits cuts plan, a “disaster”.
He added: “It is really trashing our reputation, and millions of people are going to pay the price for this.”
Ex-CBI boss Lord Digby Jones said: “It appears Ms Truss has declared war on the British people.
“I’ve rarely seen such a massive, wonderful effort at political suicide in my life.”
Former Chancellor George Osborne warned Ms Truss’s handling of the economy could damage the party at the election. He said: “I think a Tory wipeout is potentially on the cards.”
The humiliating benefits climbdown by the PM would come just a week after she was forced to scrap her plan to give a massive tax cut to millionaires.
Amid the infighting, Ms Truss will tomorrow address a meeting of all Tory MPs in a bid to shore up support for her.