Tories are already threatening to join Labour if Boris Johnson becomes PM again

Liz Truss resigned today after just 45 days in power and talk is already turning to who might replace her.

The PM resigned so quickly, she has become the shortest-serving prime minister in British history and it is very embarrassing indeed.

Things surely can't get worse, but now there are rumours reported by the Telegraph that Boris Johnson wants to stand for leadership of the party again, so they might well get worse.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

In case you don't remember, Johnson resigned from his own stint as prime minister in the summer after a string of scandals including Partygate and the way he handled allegations about Chris Pincher.

In doing so, he triggered the very leadership contest that led to Truss becoming the PM, and now she has resigned there will be another yet to be defined but not-so democratic mechanism to get someone else in he job.

It would be quite amusing, we guess, if things came full circle and Johnson returned as PM, but thankfully that may not happen if Tory MPs have anything to do about it.

The Guardian's Jessica Elgot responded to reports of Johnson's potential comeback and revealed that an unnamed Tory MP texted her to say: "If this happens I will immediately defect to the Labour party."

All of the potential candidates to replace Truss would likely be disastrous, but Johnson's had his shot and he completely blew it.

Time for a general election, we reckon...

It is a simple and fundamental principle that the government derives its democratic legitimacy from the people. The future of the country must not be decided by plotting and U-turns at Westminster; it must be decided by the people in a general election. And for this reason The Independent is calling for an election to be held. Have your say and sign our election petition by clicking here.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.