TORIES TURN ON THERESA

Reshuffle mayhem ++ Tory MPs want her out in months ++ And they insist she dump her advisers NOW

FURIOUS Tory MPs last night threatened to oust Theresa May within six months after her disastrous election campaign.

The party was plunged into civil war after the Prime Minister lost her Commons majority, with MPs aghast at her campaign tactics that resulted in the Tories blowing a 23-point lead over Labour. They demanded the resignation of Mrs May’s closest aides, and amid reports the PM had to be talked out of resigning early yesterday morning, some ministers said she would be forced from office in months.

Speculation mounted about potential successors, with Boris Johnson and David Davis both strongly tipped, and rumours of a joint ticket involving Home Secretary Amber Rudd and former Justice Secretary Michael Gove.

In a defiant statement on the steps of No 10 yesterday, Mrs May vowed to ‘get to work’ on delivering Brexit after

visiting the Queen to inform her she would try to form a minority government with the support of the hard-line Democratic Unionist Party.

however, the tone of Mrs May’s statement only enraged Tory MPs further as she failed to mention the MPs who had lost their seats, or show any contrition for a result that plunges the country – and Brexit negotiations – into turmoil.

After critics said she was ‘in denial’, Mrs May later apologised to Tory MPs who lost their seats and promised to ‘reflect’ on the result.

A well-placed source said Brexit Secretary Mr Davis had to make an emergency dash to No 10 to ‘shore up’ the Prime Minister after rumours circulated that she might quit. Shortly afterwards, Downing Street put out a statement saying Mrs May would stay on and try to form a government.

Despite the turmoil rocking Mrs May’s premiership, only one Cabinet minister – Transport Secre- tary Chris Grayling – came out publicly to defend her. On Question Time last night, he said: ‘No, she shouldn’t resign. She won the largest vote share that a Conservative Prime Minister or leader has won for a generation.’

Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson was asked at least five times whether Mrs May should continue as Prime Minister – but he would say only it was ‘early days’.

he also remained silent when a reporter suggested the Tory leader was ‘fatally damaged’.

Last night, the weakened Prime Minister was forced to scrap plans for a frontbench reshuffle and keep Chancellor Philip hammond in his post. On an extraordinary day of drama at Westminster:

Tory MPs savaged the party’s manifesto, with one minister who lost his seat saying it ‘put an exocet through the heart of our main supporters – older people’;

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was ready to try to form a coalition with the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Welsh nationalists and Greens if Mrs May falls short;

Brexit was plunged into chaos just days before negotiations with Brussels are due to begin;

In further embarrassment for Mrs May last night, the last parliamentary seat to be decided – former Tory stronghold Kensington – was won by Labour’s emma Dent Coad by a razor-thin 20 votes from Victoria Borwick;

Rumours swirled that Mrs May’s joint chiefs- of- staff Nick Timothy and Fiona hill were on the verge of quitting;

A Tory surge in Scotland killed off the prospect of a second referendum on independence, with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon admitting she would have to ‘reflect’ on the loss of 21 MPs;

Mrs May was warned she could undermine the Northern Ireland peace process by striking a deal with the DUP;

Ukip leader Paul Nuttall resigned after a disastrous night that saw the anti-eU party lose more than three million votes.

Mrs May faced a fierce backlash from MPs and ministers over the campaign which appeared to pluck disaster from the jaws of triumph.

Tory MP heidi Allen said it was clear Mrs May could not stay on ‘indefinitely’. Asked how long she might survive, she said: ‘I don’t see any more than six months.’

Brexit Minister David Jones said he supported Mrs May but it was ‘impossible to say’ if she would still be Prime Minister in six months’ time.

Pressed on how long she would stay PM, Mr Jones said: ‘That remains to be seen.’

One minister predicted Mrs May would have to go by the time of the annual Tory conference in October, adding: ‘There is no way she makes it past conference.’ Another said: ‘Unless she turns things round very quickly – which does not look likely right now – then she will be gone by the end of the year.’

Former minister Anna Soubry called for the PM to resign immediately, saying: ‘She needs to consider her position. It was a dreadful campaign, and that’s me being generous.’

Tory MP Sarah Wollaston said the election result would ‘inevitably have consequences for our negotiating position given the need for Parliamentary agreement to the final deal on Brexit’.

She added: ‘The precipitous fall from predicted “landslide” to minority government was wholly avoidable – the result of hubris and a failure to listen.’

But in a speech in Downing Street, the Prime Minister insisted she planned to serve a full five-year term.

Mrs May insisted that, as the leader of the largest party in the new parliament, she had a duty to act in the ‘national interest’ by staying on at a ‘critical time in

‘Dreadful campaign’ ‘Brexit plans as good as dead’

our country’. The PM called the election to strengthen her mandate to deliver Brexit, but ended up weakening it.

Yesterday she insisted she would press ahead with her Brexit plans, which include taking the UK out of the eU’s single market and ending free movement.

‘That’s what people voted for last June,’ she said. ‘That’s what we will deliver. Let’s get to work.’

One ally of the PM said it would be risky to try to oust her, saying: ‘You couldn’t hold a leadership contest without then holding another election – and no- one wants that, most of all the public.’

But the future of Brexit was in doubt last night. One Whitehall source said the Government’s plans were ‘as good as dead’, with almost no chance of a weakened PM forcing them through the Commons and Lords after failing to get a mandate.

Pro- Remain forces in the Tory Party indicated they would now push to stay in the single market.