Ministers refuse to be drawn on how long May can remain at No. 10
SENIOR TORY figures have cast doubts over how long Theresa May will remain in number 10 after the Conservative Party’s poor display in this month’s General Election.
Chancellor Philip Hammond criticised the way the election campaign was run and said the Conservatives would have “probably done better” if they had focused on its economic record.
Mr Hammond, who was barely visible in the run up to the June 8 vote, said his role in the campaign had not been the “one I would have liked it to be”.
Refusing to be drawn on how long he believes Mrs May will remain as Prime Minister, he said: “I’m not going to repeat to you the private conversations I had with Theresa May on Friday.
“Yes, it’s true that my role in the election campaign was not the one I would have liked it to be. I would have liked to have made much more of our economic record, which I think is an excellent one, creating 2.9m new jobs, getting the deficit down by threequarters.”
Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, who challenged Mrs May for the leadership before pulling out of the race, also refused to be drawn on the Prime Minister’s future.
Mrs Leadsom sidestepped a question over whether Mrs May would lead the party into next election, saying only “I don’t look into the future”.
Asked if she would like another go at running for leader, she replied: “I’m completely backing Theresa May as our Prime Minister.”
London Minister Greg Hands dismissed reports that Tory MPs had told Mrs May she had 10 days to save her position, saying the party was “united” in its support of the Prime Minister.