Theresa May ignores poll disaster as she pledges to govern for next five years with DUP

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A shattered Theresa May stood outside No 10 today and claimed to offer “certainty” after an election fiasco that shredded her authority.

She looked sombre on a day she was forced into a deal with Northern Ireland MPs to save her from an ignominious departure from Downing Street.

With no humility on display, Mrs May declared: “Having secured the largest number of votes it is clear that only the Conservative and Unionist Party has the certainty and legitimacy commanding a majority in the House of Commons.”

With husband Philip at her side, she ignored the weakening of her position and vowed to govern for the next five years. Her statement ended: “Let’s get to work.”

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: “Theresa May is in complete denial about what has happened in this election. Her mandate to deliver this divisive and hard Brexit is dead.

Theresa May outside Downing Street
Jeremy Selwyn

“The people have spoken and she must now listen.”

Mrs May’s reputation was at rock bottom with Tory MPs, who seethed that she had tossed away her Commons majority in a catastrophic gamble. Many thought she would be out in two years or less.

A source from the Democratic Unionist Party, with which Mrs May is now in talks, said it would keep Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn from toppling Mrs May. “IRA sympathisers will never do a deal with us,” they added.

General Election Night 2017 - In pictures

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But the DUP is expected to drive a hard bargain — and has exploited slim majorities to win favours from Westminster in the past.

Mrs May’s authority drained away in a night of shock that sent sterling plunging, as the world weighed the implications for Brexit negotiations, which are due to start in 10 days.

But in a speech to supporters in the early hours, the Prime Minister signalled her plan to cling on by stressing the need for “a period of stability”. She then spent an agonising morning phoning Cabinet members to shore up her position amid calls for her to resign for, in one MP’s words, “steering the liner on to the rocks”. With 649 of 650 constituencies counted, the Tories were left eight short of a working majority.

After a tumultuous night of political drama, other key points today were:

The Commons was divided as follows: Conservatives, 318 (-12); Labour, 261 (+29); SNP, 35 (-21); Liberal Democrats, 12 (+4); DUP, 10 (+2); Others, 13.

Mr Corbyn said Labour had “won this election” after its best vote share since 2001, at 40 per cent, fuelled by an extraordinary turnout of students and young supporters. Former Tory MP Matthew Parris dubbed it “the revenge of the young on the older generation” for last year’s Brexit vote.

There are over 200 female MPs for the first time. Turnout was 32,159,240, or 68.74 per cent, up 2.63 per cent.

Downing Street statement: Theresa May, with husband Philip (Andrew Matthews/PA )
Andrew Matthews/PA

The Tories lost eight frontbenchers including Ben Gummer, the official author of the manifesto. Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, won by 346 votes.

Senior MPs said they will demand that Mrs May consult backbenchers and Cabinet ministers about policies as part of the price of her keeping her job.

Today Mrs May rang DUP leader Arlene Foster to strike exactly the sort of bargain she had claimed her opponents would resort to in a “coalition of chaos”.

Tory sources could not say if the two women had discussed a coalition, which some Right-wingers would prefer, or a less formal deal involving horse-trading in return for key votes. One Tory source said: “I wouldn’t say a deal has been done. The DUP has made clear they will work for us, but the precise nature of that will emerge in due course.”

Ms Foster, who was recently mired in a massive energy subsidies scandal, was making the most of her position. She said it was “too soon to say” what would happen and mused that it would be “difficult for her [Mrs May] to survive”.

Theresa May: Back at Number 10
Stefan Rousseau/PA

At 10.15am today, Downing Street was finally able to announce that Mrs May would see the Queen at 12.30pm to seek permission to form a government. She left No 10 and ignored reporters as she walked briskly to her car.

Ms Foster was understood to have given assurances that the DUP is ready to support the Government. The details await negotiations. Senior DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said it was “much too early” to talk of a formal deal. MPs were drawing up shopping lists of demands for more public spending.

Belfast East MP Gavin Robinson boasted: “We have essentially got the result we were campaigning for two years ago. That puts us in a fantastic position to deliver for Northern Ireland.” He ruled out a coalition, saying any deal would be a confidence and supply arrangement.

Tories were furious. Ex-minister Anna Soubry called on Mrs May to “consider her position” following a “disastrous” campaign. Tory MPs were sharpening knives for the Prime Minister’s closest aides, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, often tipped as a successor to Mrs May, said: “We’ve got to listen to our constituents and their concerns.” One minister, asked about claims that Mr Johnson was “on manoeuvres” to win support for a leadership bid, said: “He should basically just pipe down if he is doing that.”

Brexit Secretary David Davis said he would “fight” to keep Mrs May in post. “The simple truth is we have a Prime Minister, she is a very good leader, I’m a big supporter of hers,” he said.

One supporter of Mrs May suggested she could stay for Brexit talks and quit in 2019. “She won’t be PM for a decade now, but we need her for the next two years,” said the minister. “There’s no time for a Tory leadership election and no clear and quick replacement.”

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The first tremors of the third political earthquake in two years came at 10pm last night, when an exit poll by Ipsos MORI predicted a hung Parliament. At first there was disbelief on all sides. But as the trickle of results turned into a flood, it was clear that Mrs May’s gamble had backfired spectacularly. Among unexpected Labour gains were Canterbury, Battersea and Warwick. The Tory seat of Kensington went to a third recount. One Conservative source said Labour was ahead by 12 votes.

The Tories made gains in some old Labour strongholds, such as Mansfield. Among the smaller parties, the Lib Dems were buoyed by the return of big beasts Sir Vince Cable and Sir Ed Davey in London. However, Nick Clegg, the ex-deputy prime minister, was ousted from Sheffield Hallam.

Ukip was crushed, with voters splitting between Labour and the Conservatives. Leader Paul Nuttall quit after coming third in the Lincolnshire seat he fought.

The pound fell two per cent against the dollar and the euro, but it remained above levels seen when Mrs May called the election in April. This was because experts felt she now has less of a chance of pushing through a hard Brexit. Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s lead Brexit negotiator, gloated: “Yet another own goal, after Cameron now May, will make already complex negotiations even more complicated.”

European Council president Donald Tusk tweeted: “We don’t know when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end. Do your best to avoid a ‘no deal’ as result of ‘no negotiations’.”

Ms Soubry was the first Tory MP to suggest Mrs May should resign. “This has been a disaster, the results are dreadful,” she said. Lord Turnbull, the former Cabinet secretary who sits as a crossbencher, said Mrs May “wasn’t up to it” and should quit. Moreover, he said, she had run No 10 “as a fief”. Totnes Tory MP Sarah Wollaston said: “I cannot see how the inner circle of special advisers can continue in post.”

An executive member of the 1922 Committee, which represents Tory MPs, said Mrs May could stay — but at a price. The MP said: “Nick Timothy has to go for his role in the manifesto. Instead of dollops of cream it was laced with arsenic.”

Nigel Evans, joint-secretary of the committee, said the manifesto’s hits on elderly voters were toxic. “We managed to steer the liner straight on to an iceberg called social care, the triple lock and winter weather payments.”

Campaign consultant Lynton Crosby was said to be blaming Mr Timothy for last month’s manifesto. A so-called dementia tax led to a U-turn in days.

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