BIRMINGHAM - Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss is set to close her party's tumultuous annual conference with an unabashed defence of "disruption" to counter economic "drift and delay".
Just a month since she succeeded Boris Johnson, Truss has alienated voters, financial markets and many in the Conservative party with a crash programme of debt-fuelled tax cuts to revitalise growth.
Former minister Grant Shapps, who supported Truss's leadership rival Rishi Sunak, said she could face a no-confidence vote by MPs if her keynote speech to the Tory conference in Birmingham does not start reviving the party's dismal standing in opinion polls.
"In the end, I don't think members of parliament, Conservatives, if they see the polls continue as they are, are going to sit on their hands," he told Times Radio.
"A way would be found to make that change."
But in her speech, expected from 1005 GMT, Truss will argue that the status quo is not an option, according to a preview released by the party.
"The scale of the challenge is immense," she is to say, stressing Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the economic crisis in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"That is why in Britain we need to do things differently. Whenever there is change, there is disruption. Not everyone will be in favour.
"But everyone will benefit from the result -- a growing economy and a better future," she will say, vowing a "clear plan" to end the "high-tax, low-growth cycle".
Truss is set to defy critics, including allies of Johnson, who have accused her of lacking a national mandate for her unpopular reforms after she won the Tory leadership.
"We have huge talent across the country. We're not making enough of it. To deliver this, we need to get Britain moving," Truss is expected to say.
"We cannot have any more drift and delay at this vital time."