British Prime Minister Theresa May has revealed she shed a “little tear” when she heard the exit poll indicating that her gamble to call a snap election had backfired in spectacular fashion.
In an interview with the BBC released a year to the day after she became Prime Minister, May said she was left “devastated” by the poll — which accurately predicted a hung parliament — and had to be consoled by her husband, who broke the news to her on election night in June.
May’s Conservative Party had its governing majority wiped out in one of the most dramatic nights in British political history. The result left her facing calls for her resignation.
“We didn’t see the result that came coming,” she said. “When the result came through, it was a complete shock.”
“It took a few minutes for it to sort of sink in, what that was telling me. My husband gave me a hug,” she added, before revealing she shed a “little tear.”
May said that she had not watched the exit polls come in, claiming to have “a little bit of superstition about things like that.”
But it soon became evident that her party would fall disastrously short of the large governing majority it was seeking when May, riding high in the polls, decided in April to call early elections.
May: I thought the result would be better
May, who at the time commanded only a slim majority in parliament, said she decided to call the snap election in order to secure a strong mandate from the British public for her approach to Brexit negotiations with the EU.
In April the Conservatives held a 20-point lead in the polls over the main opposition Labour Party and were widely expected to gain a larger majority in the House of Commons.
But the party’s campaign, which was heavily criticized by several of its own members, proved unpopular with voters.
In the BBC interview released Thursday, May said that although she was aware the campaign was not “going perfectly,” she said messages being passed on to her suggested “we were going to get a better result than we did.”
May also revealed she had no thoughts of resigning in the aftermath of the result, adding: “I didn’t consider stepping down because I felt there was a responsibility to ensure that the country still had a government.”
Her decision to remain in charge has failed to quell speculation surrounding her leadership, with rumors of a challenge continuing to swirl around Westminster.
She has also attracted criticism for striking a deal with the right wing Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland in order to prop up her government and ensure a slim governing majority.
The £1 billion deal, which secured the votes of the 10 DUP lawmakers at Westminster, was chastised by May’s opponents who pointed to the DUP’s anti-abortion and anti-gay rights stance.
But while she has managed to keep her party in power, May is now facing another headache in the shape of Brexit.
‘Great Repeal Bill’ published
On Thursday, her government published the European Union (withdrawal) bill — also known as the “Great Repeal Bill” — which is set to repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, which allowed Britain to join the EU and led to European law taking precedence over law made in the UK parliament.
The plan is for all existing EU legislation to be transposed into UK law in time for when Britain leaves the EU in March 2019. The bill will not be debated until the autumn.
May, who now has a wafer-thin majority in parliament, has called on all parties to work together to secure the best deal for Britain.
But those pleas are likely to be ignored with the government in such a vulnerable state and opposition parties keen to add amendments.
Keir Starmer, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, said the bill “falls short on all counts” and described it as “simply not fit for purpose.”
“Labour are putting the Prime Minister on notice that unless the Bill is significantly improved in all these areas, Labour will vote it down in the House of Commons,” Starmer said.
The Bill has also attracted criticism from Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her Welsh counterpart Carwyn Jones.
In a joint statement they hit out at the government, describing the bill as “a naked power-grab, an attack on the founding principles of devolution and could destabilize our economies.”
The statement added that neither government could “recommend that legislative consent is given to the Bill as it currently stands.”
