Battle of the bomb that blew up into row over Cameron
THERESA MAY was working late in No 10 on May 22 when she heard about the terror attack on a pop concert at the Manchester Arena that killed 23 people.
For her advisers, thoughts turned to what she would say to the country. The priority was to act responsibly. They did not want to mislead the public or say anything that would stoke fears.
Their approach came at a cost. It took almost four hours before the first official statement from Downing Street emerged – at 2.20am.
Jeremy Corbyn had tweeted his condolences at six minutes past midnight.
In the intervening time, senior officials in the Conservative campaign grew increasingly exasperated. How could the Prime Minister sit in silence at a time like this?
They were desperate for May to make a short, strong statement on Twitter, setting out what she was doing to get a grip on the crisis. The public needed to be reassured.
May’s team refused. ‘There was a huge row,’ reveals a senior Tory strategist.
‘There were things they said they wouldn’t do because “that’s what David Cameron did” – and reacting quickly on Twitter was one of them.’
May’s inner circle was adamant. ‘We’re not going to tweet, we’re not going to put anything up on Facebook. We do things differently. This is a serious event.’
The position infuriated officials inside CCHQ and frustrations boiled over. ‘There was an exchange of views,’ another Tory official admits. ‘Yes, it was a serious event but it was also happening now and the public were looking for it.
‘I just thought, “For f***’s sake.” Everything became, “the playbook is not Dave”.
‘I think Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill felt No 10 under Cameron talked too much, announced too much, and put gimmicks first and governing second. They didn’t want to govern by Twitter.’
A condolence tweet from the Prime Minister was finally sent out at 2pm – more than 15 hours after the atrocity.