May's leadership in the balance amid Tory election fury
June 09, 2017  10:06
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Theresa Mays position as Conservative leader is under pressure after her gamble on an early election appeared to have backfired spectacularly, reports the Guardian.
 
Tory MPs were shocked and furious after the party lost much of its 20-point lead in the polls during the course of the campaign.

They pinned the blame not only on the badly received Conservative manifesto, but on the performance of May personally, after she made it a presidential-style contest by putting her strong and stable leadership at the centre.

Anger was also directed at Mays close circle of aides, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, who ran a campaign excluding senior cabinet ministers and oversaw the writing of the manifesto.

At her count in Maidenhead, May suggested the Conservatives would try to hang on as a minority government if they won the most seats but any failure to match David Camerons 330 seats in 2015 could be fatal for her leadership.

The former chancellor George Osborne, who was sacked by May last year, was one of the first senior party figures to react to the result, saying if the exit poll were correct it would be catastrophic for the Tories and the prime minister personally.
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