Theresa May has reassured Tory backbenchers she will push on with the agenda she set out on the steps of Downing Street - just a day after trying to reboot her floundering leadership.
Addressing a meeting of the Conservative backbench 1922 meeting in Parliament, May focused on housing and education reforms when challenged on what she would be focusing on besides Brexit.
Her appearance at the meeting was the second in the five weeks since the General Election, although this appearance was noticeable more low key than when she addressed colleagues just days after the Theresa May-focused campaign backfired and wiped out the party’s majority.
May came straight to the meeting after listening to the King of Spain deliver a speech to MPs and peers, and was met with the customary banging of tables by Tory backbenchers.
Speaking after the meeting, one MP told HuffPost UK their colleagues were pleased to be seeing more of the Prime Minister compared to before the general election.
The MP said: “She is making herself open and available. With such a small majority she’s got to be in the division lobbies a bit more now, which also helps.”
May has been forced to abandon many of the more controversial parts of the Tory manifesto thanks to the small governing majority handed to her by the DUP.
This includes reforms of social care funding and plans to roll out more grammar schools across the UK.
Despite this setback, May told MPs education reform was still very much on her agenda.
One MP said it was one of the first 1922 meetings for many months when the issue had been proactively raised by a member of the Government, not a backbencher.
However, they spoke out against a revelation in The Times that plans to build hundreds of free schools could be scrapped as part of a plan to boost education spending by £4billion.
The MP said: “What we need is clarity at the moment.”