Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are being considered possible "kingmakers" for Theresa May's Conservatives after the general election ended in a hung parliament.
May called the early election when her party was comfortably ahead in the polls, in the hope of increasing her majority and strengthening Britain's hand in exit talks with the EU.
Among Tory MPs there was fury at the way a 20-point opinion poll lead at the start of the campaign had been thrown away in an election which she did not need to call for another three years.
Referring to the "strong relationship" she had with the DUP but giving little detail of how their arrangement might work, she said she meant to form a government which could "provide certainty and lead Britain forward at this critical time for our country".
The Conservatives won 318 House of Commons seats in Thursday's election, eight short of an outright majority.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, one of May's most loyal supporters, said he disagreed with Osborne's description of her as a "dead woman walking" and he expected Conservative lawmakers to rally behind her.
The DUP has repeatedly used a controversial Stormont voting mechanism - the petition of concern - to prevent the legalisation of same-sex marriage, despite a majority of MLAs supporting the move at the last vote.
The spokesman indicated this would not be a formal coalition but a minority government with looser DUP support on a "confidence and supply basis".
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Much of their ire was directed at Mrs May's two close aides Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy - the latter who was blamed for the disastrous manifesto pledge to reform the funding of social care, dubbed the dementia tax, which is thought to have cost the party heavily at the ballot box. They were replaced by Gavin Barwell, a former housing minister who lost his seat in the election.
She had called the election with the stated reason that it would strengthen her hand in negotiations for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union - the talks are due to start on 19 June.
Several hundred people many Labour voters protested in central London against the potential alliance, with one organiser leading chants of "racist, sexist, anti-gay, the DUP has got to go".
Fallon said the DUP would agree to back the Conservatives on big economic and security issues.
The DUP wants no extension to Northern Ireland's limitations on terminations, which restrict the procedure to when a woman's life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental or physical health.
Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O'Neill has said the proposed deal between the Conservatives and the DUP "will end in tears".
Newspaper headlines saw her as just clinging on. "That's not a matter for me", she said.
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson indicated she wanted to see a fresh approach to Brexit by seeking a consensus across parties.
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