A 100 day policy blitz? It’s going to take a lot more than that to save the Tories - Jayne Dowle

This would see an emergency shopping list of quick-hit policies hit the table in a desperate bid to get voters on side.

Speaking anonymously – for now – but believed to include diehard supporters of former PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss – the group say it’s time to put an end to “broken pledges, distant plans for change and bans they never asked for” and instead use 100 days to prove the Government is “taking action and cares about what matters to the British people”.

100 days, as someone almost once said, is a long time in politics. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s personal popularity rating is at an all time low, sinking even further than beleaguered John Major in 1994, previously the least-favoured PM in recent history.

An Ipsos poll last week revealed Sunak’s personal satisfaction rating had fallen to minus 59. Only 16 per cent of people said they were satisfied with his performance and 75 per cent stressed they were dissatisfied.

After today, anything could happen, although should he be pushed out of Number 10 – or even fall on his sword and resign – there is no one obvious successor for his crown.

Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt, who many perceive to be preparing for a leadership contest, might be the most popular Cabinet minister amongst Tory party members, but on personal ratings, she still trails behind Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer by 17 points.

So in the face of perhaps blind panic, the rebels vow to end the current reign of “tinkering, dithering and managerialism” with a bold five-point populist plan.

Promises include an attempt to end the junior doctors pay dispute with a 10-12 per cent offer, further cuts to legal migration numbers, with a curb on the number of foreign students staying in the UK, a commitment to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2027, the introduction of measures to jail prolific offenders and build rapid detention cells to increase prison capacity, and a slashing of the benefits bill, with a target to reduce payments for depression and anxiety.

A Tory source said: “These are policies that can be introduced in a few months and then go to the country for people to make a decision.

"We’ve got to be clear and bold in our plan, and with the right messenger, to have any chance of winning otherwise it could be two or three terms of Labour.”

Some of these ideas might appeal to some people, but they have clearly not been properly considered in detail, or carefully costed out. The words ‘back of a fag packet’ spring to mind.

It’s also an odd list, in terms of appeal. It feels reactionary and old-fashioned.

"Even if they leant towards the Conservatives, I can’t imagine either of the two young voters in my house looking at these ideas and feeling even remotely giddy.

There is nothing, you will note, about addressing the cost of living, I’d say the major concern for most voters as they consider which party most has their interests at heart. There is nothing either about education.

Whilst private schools can happily charge upwards of £50,000 a year for fees – and parents and grandparents ransack savings and pensions to meet them – state education is in crisis.

According to official figures, every year, around one in 10 teachers leave the profession and there are nowhere near enough new recruits to fill the gaps.

Paying junior doctors more won’t clear the backlog of appointments, only more carefully-considered investment, and a painstaking re-assessment of the way the NHS operates, embracing GPS, pharmacists and dentists, will deliver change.

The rebels should also remember that cardinal rule of politics; be careful what you wish for.

If, after today, they do come out of hiding, and succeed in pushing forward their 100-day agenda, there are no guarantees whatsoever that come the General Election, they won’t go down with the ship.