Tories put May’s future in question over ‘catastrophe’
Senior party figures say ‘this is worse than bad’ and call on the PM’S advisers to be banished
THERESA May is today facing a mounting backlash over her “catastrophic” election campaign.
Senior Conservatives said she had made “fundamental strategic errors” and said that her closest aides should be “banished” from Downing Street.
They complained that the campaign had been centred around a “cult of personality” and “central control”, adding: “It has completely blown up in our face”.
One senior Tory told The Daily Telegraph last night after the exit poll and as early results came in: “This is bad, it’s worse than bad.
“Her advisers should walk out of the door now never to return, regardless of the final result. They should be banished forever. Can she hang on? She [Mrs May] has zero credibility if this exit poll is correct.
“The very best we can get tonight is to end up where we were. The cult of personality and central control has completely blown up in our face.”
Last night there were suggestions that at least three Tory ministers could lose their seats including Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary.
Pro-european Tories were already plotting to use any fall in the party’s vote to change the party’s direction over Brexit. One said: “Brexit has taken over the party. We need to get back to core issues like the economy and security”.
George Osborne, the former chancellor who was sacked by Mrs May, said that if the exit poll was accurate she would not survive.
He said: “I worked very well with Theresa May and I think she has intelligence and integrity. Clearly if she’s got a worse result than two years ago and is almost unable to form a government then she I doubt will survive in the long term as Conservative Party leader.”
He later added: “She called the election to strengthen her hand, there will be two questions Conservative MPS are considering right now. Can we get into government and second has Theresa May lost this election? I would remind you of the leaflet that was put through so many doors in her name... if I lose six seats I lose this election.”
Mr Osborne, who has been described as a “Metropolitan Tory”, suggested
‘Can she hang on? The cult of personality and central control has completely blown up in our face’
that the party needed to stop chasing Ukip voters. He said: “People will start to ask questions about the future of the direction of the Conservative Party if it set itself against the urban metropolitan part of the country… I have said that was a problem.
“If you only went after the Ukip vote that is a big risk.”
Tory ministers told The Daily Telegraph said that they were infuriated with the way the campaign was run.
They said that Mrs May made a “fun- damental strategic error” with her controversial plans to overhaul social care.
The manifesto introduced abandoned plans for a cap on social care, in what quickly became known as a “dementia tax”.
The Prime Minister was forced to reverse the policy, damaging her authority and reputation for being decisiveness. Other manifesto pledges were seen as similarly “punitive” for older voters, including means testing the winter fuel allowance and abandoning the triple lock on rises in the state pension.
Ministers were also concerned by Mrs May’s own performance. While Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, made a series of passionate and surefooted performances in the final stages of the campaign, Mrs May was privately described by some Tory candidates as “Maybot” – repeating near-identical lines in her speeches.
Tories were also infuriated after the Prime Minister chose to put Damian Green, the Work and Pensions Secretary, and Karen Bradley, the Culture Secretary, on the front line of her campaign. “They didn’t win us a single vote,” one minister said.
The Conservatives also struggled this week in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack after Labour successful shifted the debate onto cuts in the numbers of police officers under Mrs May when she was home secretary.
However some of Mrs May’s most loyal ministers were lining up to support her last night.
David Gauke, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said Mrs May’s position “isn’t in question”.
He said: “I don’t think there’s anything else who could lead us into the negotiations so effectively. The idea that we should ignore that and naval gaze would be a big mistake.
“Theresa May continues to be the right person to lead that. She’s the right person for the job, clearly.
“She won the party leadership with a massive majority of members of parliament. Given that we’ve got really important negotiations beginning in 11 days’ time the responsibility of those of us who hope to be elected as Conservative MPS is to continue to support her.”