After result, media allies turn on May

newspapers have a history of openly supporting political parties, but those who backed the Conservative Party before Thursday’s election appeared to have abandoned Prime Minister Theresa May after her gamble backfired and the Tories were forced to form a minority government.

Before Thursday’s election, every broadsheet and tabloid made its preference known. The titles owned by Rupert Murdoch supported the Conservative Party while The Guardian and the Daily Mirror batted for Labour.

But after the results, even the pro-Conservative titles turned on May. On voting day, The Sun urged its readers not to “chuck Britain in the Cor-bin”, but after the results, its front page headline, over a photo of May eating chips, was “She’s had her chips”.

The Daily Mail led with, “Tories turn on Theresa”, and described her election campaign as “disastrous” and said the Conservatives had been “plunged into civil war”.

The Daily Telegraph and The Times, which, like the Sun and Mail, supported the Conservatives before the election, also warned that May’s future was at risk. The Times’ front page said: “May stares into the abyss.”

The Guardian said May and the Conservatives had gone from “hubris to humiliation” during the election campaign. Daily Mirror accused May of forming a “Coalition of crackpots”, and pointed out that the Democratic Unionist Party — with whom May has formed the government — opposes gay marriage and abortion. HTC