The Tory-backing press are unwilling to spin Theresa May’s humiliating election result, turning on the prime minister as she fights to stay in Downing Street.
The Daily Mail, The Times, The Telegraph and The Sun all appeared stunned by the hung parliament the election delivered. Their front pages on Friday focussed on the embattled prime minister losing the Tories’ majority in the election she chose to call.
After a day of the prime minister trying to carry on as if she had won the mandate she sought for the imminent Brexit talks, the papers twisted the knife.
Saturday’s Sun front page calls her “toast” and predicts she will be gone within a year.
The Times was equally stark:
The fervour with which the papers had backed May earlier was not reflected in the front pages.
The Daily Mail, which had taken a real shine to the prime minister for her tough talk on Brexit, splashed on Tory MPs wanting her gone within months.
The Daily Telegraph likewise went with reports the Tories could be about to move against their leader.
The Daily Express said May was “clinging on”.
It’s testament to how damning the Tory papers’ front pages are that the Labour-supporting front pages are only slightly worse.
The Guardian said May had gone “from hubris to humiliation” by making the election all about her personal credentials as leader and then fail.