If Theresa May Does Not Get The Mandate...

[agchristie]

Theresa May will know the figure she is looking for to obtain in terms of seats.

If she fails to achieve the desired number will she dust herself down and just crack on with the job or do you believe that pressure will be put on her to step aside?

[dannyk13]

Rack on and do the job.She does not give the impression of being a quitter.

[Gromit]

The Conservatives had a 17 seat majority. The whole point of this election was to substantially increase that.

But the Tory campaign has been poor, and May has been terrible. They will still win the election, but a hughly increased majority now looks doubtful.

But May will survive no matter how many seats the Conservatives win by. But her authority will be seriously damaged if the majority is even lower than before.

[jim360]

Unless her desired target was 326 then I'm sure she'll treat her result as a mandate regardless. She can and will keep her actual target private (I suspect it was around 400 but that's little more than a guess). And one thing you can't accuse Conservative MPs of is failing to get behind their Prime Minister at the start of their tenure.

Maybe in ten years' time they'd start to get rattled, but from what I know of the Conservative Party's history I don't think they'd treat a victory as excuse for a coup.

[Chris38]

You are absolutely right, dannyk13. The trouble is, she seems to be surrounded by bone-headed numbskulls who have totally mishandled the party`s manifesto and struck completely the wrong note in my constituency`s election circular.

[Gromit]

Chris38
The leader of the Conservative Party is in charge of what goes in the manifesto. For Mrs May to start to undermine it before the ink was even dry, is sheer incompetence on her part. A large part of why the Conservative Party's campaign has faulted in recent days is squarely down to May.

[Kromovaracun]

If they increase their majority by even 1 seat (or even manage to keep a majority at all), I can guarantee that we'll be assured that May has secured a huge mandate and it's a thumping victory and the people are completely on side with Theresa May's team etc etc etc.

[Kromovaracun]

Good to see you back Gromit.

I agree - it's especially unwise when her campaign has centred so strongly on her personally.

[jim360]

I think it's a given, to be fair, that the Tories will increase their vote share (owing to the collapse of UKIP, lack of interest in Lib Dem support, etc).

The picture in seats may not change but I would not be all that surprised to see one party, or even both, come close to matching the 1992 record for most votes won in an election.

[Gromit]

Kromovaracun

Nail and Gear. Are you an Hello Internet fan?

[agchristie]

Despite an appalling election build up, it is still intriguing with so much at stake.

I just wonder privately what Tory MP's are really thinking and feeling now and if the majority is about the same now or slightly lower, how united the party will be.

[mikey4444]

Yes, Welcome back Gromit !

[agchristie]

Mikey - do you foresee a Tory leadership challenge if there is little change in the number of seats after the election?

[-Talbot-]

Win or lose the Labour fight for control is far from over.

[mikey4444]

agchristie....The Tories have always been more ruthless when it comes to changing their Leader than Labour.

If Mrs May has achieved little or nothing from this unnecessary Poll, then I am fairly certain that she will be ousted asap. Boris is waiting the wings. He has been very patient and if you notice he has played very part in this Election, probably for good reasons.

[jim360]

Ruthless perhaps, but surely also measured? I don't think Thatcher went until she became more powerful than you could possibly imagine, or something; and Major, Hague and Howard at least needed election defeats to see them ousted. (IDS was just useless.)

[Jackdaw33]

Whatever happens I cannot see her leading the Tories into the 2022 election. Apart from her age (she will be 66 by then) she has failed to make the transition from competent Home Secretary to party leader. Maggie Mark II she is most certainly not. Should she lose this one she will be gone within hours, if not minutes.

[mikey4444]

Jim...the difficulty for Hague, IDS and Howard was that the Tories were deeply unpopular at the time, and the Party knew that they were, in effect, unelectable.

But someone had to put his head above the parapet, and as long as he wasn't Heseltine, they just took whoever they could find.

As you say, IDS was useless, and Howard just too nasty.
But I have always felt just a little bit sorry for Wee Willy, as he was head and shoulders above those others.

I think history will treat a little better, as time goes on. Personally, I think he jumped ship too quickly when he retired from politics......the Tories could do with someone of his qualities now.

[Jackdaw33]

To my astonishment I find myself in full agreement with Mikey. Hague was on a hiding to nothing. No Tory leader was going to win in 2001. It's a shame he chose to throw his toys out of the pram. No-one would have blamed him for losing and if he'd soldiered on the result in 2005 might have been different.

[mikey4444]

Jack...I am sure we can agree every now and then !

[Gromit]

Hague was a terrible Foreign Secretary, and it was a great relief when he stood down.