PM May's top aides quit after brutal election reality check

The two top aides to British Prime Minister Theresa May resigned Saturday, sacrificed in a bid to save their leader from being toppled by a furious Conservative Party after a disastrous election wiped out May's majority in Parliament.

Chris Leslie labelled it an "okay result" after Jeremy Corbyn's party secured a higher-than-expected 262 seats and significantly boosted its vote share.

Davidson, one of the few Conservatives to emerge as a victor from the election after she increased the party's presence in Scotland, said she had demanded, and received, "categoric assurance" from May that the policy would not change. "That's not a matter for me", she said.

Dogus didn't go as far as some Labour candidates who distanced themselves from Corbyn - one even wrote to reassure voters that she understood their misgivings about Corbyn, who the Conservatives bet would be "toxic" to Britons due to his associations with militant groups.

The outcome risks upsetting the political balance in Northern Ireland by aligning London more closely with the pro-British side in the divided province, and increases the chance that Britain will fall out of the European Union in 2019 without a deal. The election ended in a hung parliament with the Labour Party making huge gains.

But her party is deeply divided over what they want from Brexit and the result means British businesses still have no idea what trading rules they can expect in the coming years.

An election that May called to strengthen her hand as Britain leaves the European Union ended with her political authority obliterated, her days in office likely numbered and the path to Brexit more muddied than ever.

"The last thing business leaders need is a parliament in paralysis, and the consequences for British businesses and for the United Kingdom as an investment destination would be severe", said Stephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors business lobby. Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson - a rising star in the party - tweeted a link to a speech she made in support of gay marriage, drawing on her own experiences as a lesbian Christian.

At 10pm on Thursday, exit polls predicted the Conservatives would lose their overall majority. "You will have a very fractious parliament".

From the start, an election called by May when polls gave her a commanding lead did not go to plan.

Less than a year after May was propelled into Downing Street following Britain's surprise referendum decision to leave the European Union, party insiders were placing bets on how long she could last.

Owen Paterson, a senior Conservative lawmaker, said "let's see how it pans out", when asked about May's future.

"May fights to remain PM", the Daily Telegraph headlined.

French President Emmanuel Macron meanwhile said he was "pleased that she would continue to be a close partner" and agreed their countries' "strong friendship. was important and would endure".

Surprised at the amount of detailed policy Labour had prepared, some in May's campaign team also expressed a grudging admiration for Labour's strategy, which they said had managed to speak to many of those who voted for Brexit last June - just the electorate that the Conservatives wanted to target.

Senior EU officials and politicians have said May can postpone the June 19 date if she needs to, but with a final deadline for exiting the EU in March 2019, precious negotiating time would be lost if delayed.

Forced into minority government, May is reaching out to Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which won 10 seats, in the hope of forging a working majority.

The Tories won 318 seats, down 12, and will have to rely on the DUP to get things done.

French doesn't think Brexit didn't really influence the outcome of the election for the Conservatives.