Veteran South West Devon MP, Sir Gary Streeter, has called on the Conservative party to act to replace its current leader Liz Truss. 

The Plymouth Christian MP told Premier he believed the party should move "swiftly" to change the leader to someone who can "gather more respect within the parliamentary party". 

"I guess we are witnessing what happens when authority breaks down," Streeter said. 

"And I think my message to my colleagues is, even if the Archangel Gabriel were to lead us now this week and rediscovered a sense of teamwork and mutual respect and discipline, you know, this is going to happen again and again and again unless we can sort ourselves out. 

"We will have to go to the country and let the people decide who the next government is going to be, as they have the right to do, and that will be a night of wipe out for us .That's what faces us," he continued. 

His comments come as he witnessed the unprecedented last 24 hours in Westminster which saw a cabinet minister resign and two U-turns on other ministers' resignations. 

The House Commons also became the stage of an open revolt following a vote on the future of fracking. The vote was initially understood by many tory MPs as a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister but minutes before it took place, they were told it wasn't after all. 

However, the vote descended into mayhem after it was announced around 40 MPs didn't back Liz Truss.  Some MPs even alleged ministers physically pulled some indecisive members of parliament into the voting lobbies.

Streeter, who was in the division lobby, told Premier he didn't witness "anything of that order" but acknowledged sometimes there can be "heated exchanges". 

"I don't know how you can be manhandled by a female chief whip. But certainly, I think one or two people let themselves down last night, but it's not really the norm. And in the end, I'm sure most people would have voted the way that they wanted to." 

Several MPs have confirmed they have submitted letters to the 1922 Committee demanding a vote of no confidence in the prime minister. 

Although he didn't confirm whether he had done so, Streeter admitted is "hard to see how she's going to carry on in Cabinet". 

"There's been only one topic of conversation amongst most of us over the last seven days. I think we've got to the stage that unless you can pull something remarkable out of the bag in the next few days. I don't see any alternative," Streeter added.