Under-fire Truss says she will remain in charge

The United Kingdom's embattled prime minister has hit back at critics who say she will imminently be booted from 10 Downing Street.

Liz Truss, who assumed power in September after Conservative Party lawmakers turned against previous leader Boris Johnson, has been widely criticized for being at the helm while apparent financial mismanagement caused the pound to slump to an all-time low against the dollar.

The turbulence led her to fire her former finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, after less than 6 weeks on the job.

But Truss insisted in an interview with the BBC that, while she may have moved too far and too fast on delivering low taxes and minimal state involvement, she will not give up.

"I remain committed to the vision, but we will have to deliver that in a different way," she said.

With the mini-budget that Kwarteng unveiled on Sept 23 now almost entirely erased by U-turns announced by Jeremy Hunt, the new chancellor of the exchequer, Truss acknowledged she has made mistakes.

"I do think it is the mark of an honest politician who does say 'yes, I've made a mistake'," she said. "I've addressed that mistake, and now we need to deliver for people."

Truss's comments followed her remaining tight-lipped earlier on Monday as Hunt unpicked her former chancellor's mini-budget in Parliament. This came after she was ridiculed during a debate, when senior Conservative Party lawmaker Penny Mordaunt said she had been "detained on urgent business" and would not answer questions from the rival Labour Party.

Mordaunt's response drew laughs and jeers from lawmakers who say Truss has failed to take responsibility for her actions.

Some Conservative Party members of Parliament have said, despite the U-turns and apology, they will continue to try to force Truss from office, even though the party's rulebook prohibits a leadership challenge within a year of the previous one.

So far, five of Truss's 357 MPs have publicly said she should go, but The Guardian newspaper said around half are thought to have said so privately.

Truss attempted to shore up her position on Tuesday by chairing a meeting of her Cabinet, and one of her senior ministers did her a favor by insisting he does not want to replace her. Ben Wallace, the UK's defense minister who political insiders said could unite anti-Truss elements within the party, told The Times newspaper the Conservatives need "stability and security" now, above all else.

He said: "I say to the colleagues who think our role is to feed the instability within the party, by proposing other people as leaders no matter who they are, (you) are doing a disservice."

But another minister conceded Truss must get everything right from now on.

James Heappey, the UK's minister for the armed forces, told Sky News: "I don't think that there is the opportunity to make any more mistakes because the nation needs a government that is governing well and is making good decisions."