Theresa May is “alone” and “friendless” in Downing Street now her two top aides have resigned, a former adviser to the prime minister has said.
Joey Jones, who served as a media adviser for May during her time as home secretary, said the prime minister was now “pretty much a hostage to the Conservative party in Downing Street” while Tory MPs worked out what to do.
May’s joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill resigned today amid intense Tory criticism in the wake of the snap election which saw May lose her Commons majority.
Jones, a former Sky News political reporter, told the channel: “What we have seen happening today and yesterday is not a genuine attempt to forge a new consensual, collegiate dynamic in which Theresa may lead the government.
“This is nothing less than a ritual humiliation and humbling of an unsuccessful prime minister by a very, very angry Conservative Party.
“She is alone, she is friendless, she is pretty much a hostage to the Conservative Party in Downing Street.”
In an effort to shore up her position in Number 10 the Prime Minister has sent her Chief Whip to Belfast for talks with the Democratic Unionist Party ahead of the first test of her diminished authority when Parliament returns.
The role of Timothy and Hill as May’s joint chiefs of staff had been severely criticised by disgruntled Tories in the wake of the election result.
There were also misgivings about relying on the DUP, which strongly opposes same-sex marriage and abortion.