Updated June 10, 2017 23:42:29

Photo: Theresa May has been returned to 10 Downing Street, but her political gamble has backfired badly. (Reuters: Stefan Rousseau)

British Prime Minister Theresa May's most senior aides have quit in the wake of the Conservative Party's disastrous election result that left her fighting for survival.

Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, Ms May's co-chiefs of staff who formed part of the leader's small inner circle and were blamed by many Conservatives for the party's lacklustre campaign and unpopular election platform, resigned as the party prepared to launch negotiations to stay in power.

Ms May's bet that she could strengthen her hand by crushing what she believed to be a weak opposition Labour Party backfired spectacularly as voters stripped her Conservative Party of a parliamentary majority.

The UK election delivered a hung Parliament and left the Conservatives with 318 seats, down from 330 before the election and short of the 326 needed to pass legislation.

The stunning outcome has Ms May battling to unite different factions of her party, and reliant on a handful of Northern Irish parliamentarians just nine days before Britain starts the process of negotiating its departure from the EU.

Photo: Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill were blamed by some Conservatives for the election result. (Reuters: Peter Nicholls)

In an article for the Conservative Home website, Mr Timothy conceded that the campaign had failed to communicate "Theresa's positive plan for the future" and to notice surging support for the opposition Labour Party.

Ms Hill said she had "no doubt at all that Theresa May will continue to serve and work hard as Prime Minister".

Some senior Tories made the removal of Ms Hill and Mr Timothy a condition for continuing to support Ms May, who has vowed to remain prime minister.

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The election has left Ms May needing the support of the socially conservative, pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which won 10 seats in Northern Ireland.

The Prime Minister's Downing St office said Conservative Chief Whip Gavin Williamson was in Belfast for talks with the DUP "on how best they can provide support to the government".

The two parties are broadly politically aligned, but it remains to be seen what price the DUP will demand for its support.

UK 'all but ungovernable'

As internal Tory recriminations continued, Britain's typically pro-Conservative press savaged Ms May and questioned whether she could remain in power only two months after officially triggering the country's divorce from the European bloc.

The Times newspaper said Britain was "effectively leaderless" and the "country all but ungovernable".

"The Conservatives have not yet broken the British system of democracy, but through their hubris and incompetence they have managed to make a mockery of it," it said in an editorial.

"The task of restoring orderly government in order to make sense of Brexit is now a national emergency, and it falls to them."

The Telegraph newspaper said senior Conservatives including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Interior Minister Amber Rudd and Brexit Minister David Davis were taking soundings over whether to replace Ms May.

Britain's best-selling Sun newspaper said senior members of the party had vowed to get rid of Ms May, but would wait at least six months because they were worried that a leadership contest could propel Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn into power.

"She's staying, for now," one Conservative Party source told Reuters.

If Ms May is to succeed in delivering the wishes of 52 per cent of the public and take Britain out of the EU, she must find a way to secure the full support of her party to pass legislation preparing for and enacting the departure.

Nine days until Brexit talks

Ms May called the snap election to win a clear mandate for her plan to take Britain out of the EU's single market and customs union, so she could slash immigration.

But less than a year after Ms May was propelled into the role of Prime Minister following the surprise referendum decision to leave the EU, party insiders were placing bets on how long she could last.

Owen Paterson, a senior Conservative politician, said "let's see how it pans out", when asked about Ms May's future.

"It is not the outcome any of us would have wanted in the Conservative Party. But we are nine days off from the Brexit talks starting," he said.

"We are nine days off from the Brexit talks starting, we've had two horrific security incidents, and to cast the Tory party into yet another leadership contest, I think, would be very unwise."

The results are a devastating blow for the Conservatives Party, and one that'll have unpredictable consequences, writes Europe correspondent James Glenday.

After confirming that her top five ministers, including Finance Minister Philip Hammond, would keep their jobs, Ms May was expected to appoint a team that will take on one of the most demanding negotiations in British history.

Ms May said Brexit talks would begin on June 19 as scheduled — the same day as the formal reopening of Parliament.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she assumed Britain still wanted to leave the European Union and that talks must start quickly.

German politician and EU executive member Guenther Oettinger said, however, that a weak British leader increased the risk negotiations would turn out badly.

"As I reflect on the results I will reflect on what we need to do in the future to take the party forward," Ms May said in a televised statement.

Reuters

Topics: federal-elections, elections, world-politics, united-kingdom

First posted June 10, 2017 22:18:15