Conservative Home

Fiona Hill, who has quit as Theresa May's co-chief of staff, has also issued a statement on Conservative Home, external. It's a bit shorter than Nick Timothy's one:

Conservative Home

Theresa May's joint chief of staff, Nick Timothy has sought to defend his and Theresa May's record in his resignation statement.

Writing on the ConservativeHome website, external Mr Timothy said that while the general result was "a huge disappointment", the Conservatives had won more than 13.6 million votes, which was an "historically high number, and more than Tony Blair won in all three of his election victories".

Mr Timothy said the reason for the disappointing result was "not the absence of support for Theresa May and the Conservatives but an unexpected surge in support for Labour".

The former aide said that Britain was a "divided country".

He said:

He admitted, however, that the Conservatives' election campaign had failed to get its message across and had failed to notice the surge in Labour support. Modern campaigning techniques required "ever-narrower targeting of specific voters, and [they] were not talking to the people who decided to vote for Labour."

He went on to take his share of responsibility for the disappointing result:

The role of Mr Timothy and Fiona Hill as Theresa May's joint chiefs of staff were precarious in the wake of the election result.

The BBC's Norman Smith said Tory MPs had earlier told Mrs May to sack the pair or face a leadership challenge.

Mr Timothy wrote in a blog post that one of his regrets was the way Mrs May's social care policy - dubbed the "dementia tax" by critics - had been handled.

In the post, external, Mr Timothy said: "I take responsibility for my part in this election campaign, which was the oversight of our policy programme".

Theresa May's joint chief of staff Fiona Hill has also resigned, a Tory spokesman said.

Former co-chief of staff to Theresa May's resignation statement on Conservativehome website, external

Yesterday, I resigned as the Prime Minister’s adviser.

Clearly, the general election result was a huge disappointment. What lay behind the result will no doubt be the subject of detailed analysis for many months. My immediate reaction, however, is this. The Conservatives won more than 13.6 million votes, which is an historically high number, and more than Tony Blair won in all three of his election victories. The reason for the disappointing result was not the absence of support for Theresa May and the Conservatives but an unexpected surge in support for Labour.

One can speculate about the reasons for this, but the simple truth is that Britain is a divided country: many are tired of austerity, many remain frustrated or angry about Brexit, and many younger people feel they lack the opportunities enjoyed by their parents’ generation.

Ironically, the Prime Minister is the one political leader who understands this division, and who has been working to address it since she became Prime Minister last July. The Conservative election campaign, however, failed to get this and Theresa’s positive plan for the future across. It also failed to notice the surge in Labour support, because modern campaigning techniques require ever-narrower targeting of specific voters, and we were not talking to the people who decided to vote for Labour.

I take responsibility for my part in this election campaign, which was the oversight of our policy programme. In particular, I regret the decision not to include in the manifesto a ceiling as well as a floor in our proposal to help meet the increasing cost of social care. But I would like to make clear that the bizarre media reports about my own role in the policy’s inclusion are wrong: it had been the subject of many months of work within Whitehall, and it was not my personal pet project. I chose not to rebut these reports as they were published, as to have done so would have been a distraction for the campaign. But I take responsibility for the content of the whole manifesto, which I continue to believe is an honest and strong programme for government.

Turning to the future, nothing matters more than the good government of the country. The Brexit negotiations are due to begin, and if the United Kingdom is to get the right deal, there is no time to waste. I hope the Conservative Party in Parliament gets behind the Prime Minister, and allows her the political space to negotiate that deal.

In the meantime, I want to place on record my sorrow for the Conservative Members of Parliament who lost their seats, several of whom are close friends. I want to reaffirm my ongoing support for the Conservative Party and its principles. And I want to encourage all Conservatives to come through this difficult period, unite behind the Prime Minister, and focus on the need to heal the divisions in our country.

Thousands of votes were not included in the result for a newly-elected Labour MP, Plymouth City Council has said.

Luke Pollard won Plymouth Sutton and Devonport with 23,808 votes.

However, the actual figure including the missed votes cast in his favour was 27,283.

Mr Pollard said it was "just another thing to add to the catalogue of mistakes by the council."

Read the full story here

BBC Radio 5 live

Defeated Conservative MP Stewart Jackson says his party's "shockingly bad" election manifesto hampered a campaign which saw him lose his Peterborough seat to Labour by 607 votes.

He told BBC Radio 5 live the document lacked passion and vision and that he wanted Theresa May to show "empathy and contrition" over what had become a "complete disaster".

The former MP says that since his defeat he's received a text message from former prime minister David Cameron but has heard nothing from Theresa May.

Even so, Mr Jackson believes the prime minister should stay in place "to steady the ship" and get the DUP arrangement in place, provided she end "the hubris and the arrogance and the bunker mentality".

BBC News Channel

Belfast's Unionist-leaning daily News Letter pictures the DUP's 10 MPs on its front page and describes the party "kingmakers" as being in a position of "unparalleled influence".

The paper's political editor Sam McBride tells the BBC News Channel the focus on the DUP's social conservatism is a "red herring".

"They've been very pragmatic, are very malleable when they have to be, have governed [in Northern Ireland] for a decade now with Sinn Fein, who are diametrically opposed to them on almost every ideological sphere."

The DUP expected to play a key role at Westminster in 2015, when they prepared priorities for negotiations in the event that both David Cameron and Ed Miliband failed to win a majority, says Mr McBride.

BBC Radio 4

Theresa May was told by the executive of the backbench Conservative 1922 committee to "go back in front of the TV cameras and apologise" to Tory MPs who had lost their seats in the general election, having neglected to mention them in a first statement, according to Financial Times political editor George Parker.

Mrs May recorded a second TV interview on Friday after her earlier, brief appearance in Downing Street focused on issues facing her government without alluding to the losses.

Parker said the 1922 committee and cabinet regarded the removal of Mrs May's key advisers Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill as a "prerequisite" along with a return to "proper Cabinet government".

BBC News Northern Ireland

Former Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers tells BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics programme she's optimistic that the DUP and Conservatives can reach a deal at Westminster to ensure the government is "as stable as possible".

Ms Villiers said:“The DUP are certainly good negotiators, not least because many of their team have been involved in cross-party negotiations in Northern Ireland for 20 years or so. They will have some important requests in terms of funding... there might be some sort of debate and discussion over things like the military covenant.

And on Brexit, she said: "One thing that very much unites all the parties in Northern Ireland is that they want to ensure that the border stays as free-flowing as possible."

She was then asked whether any Conservative-DUP deal would hamper attempts to revive Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive.

BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe

Image source, BBC Monitoring

The hung parliament result has surprised commentators in major European Union countries as much as at home.

Many journalists question whether Theresa May can hold on as PM - and speculate whether EU exit negotiations will be derailed.

Germany's N24 news, like most TV channels, leads its coverage with the "question mark over Theresa May's future, external" as she faces "new battles in her own party".

See the full report

BBC Radio 4

The political editor of the Financial Times George Parker tells the Week in Westminster that Theresa May's time in office is measured "in months rather than years" but that there are still problems for Conservative MPs seeking to replace her.

He says: "You cannot underestimate the anger that there is in the Conservative Party about the fact that a) she called this campaign and b) then successfully destroyed it."

But, Parker explains, there are difficulties - chiefly caused by Brexit - which mean replacing her will not be easy. It could open up "civil war" in the party once more. And in any case, a new leader might then in turn want to call another general election:

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Tory MPs have told Theresa May to sack her two chief advisers or face a leadership challenge, the BBC understands.

Senior Tories demanded Mrs May remove joint chiefs of staff Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy if she wanted to avoid a leadership contest at Monday's meeting of Tory backbenchers

A senior Tory said sacking the aides would be a "litmus test" for Mrs May to show she was willing to change.

He said the pair were responsible for "the worst manifesto in history".

It is understood the MPs are confident they could muster the required 48 names to sign a letter prompting a contest.