British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to relinquish her two closest aides on Saturday as she struggled to reassert her authority following a crushing electoral setback.
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.
Bloodied by an election gamble that backfired and triggered calls for her resignation, May on Friday stood by her vow to form Britain's next government and lead the country out of the European Union.
May's campaign seemed to suffer from her refusal to debate and her propensity to appear only in carefully controlled situations. But the election result meant it was unclear whether her plan to take Britain out of the bloc's single market and customs union could still be pursued.
But after seeing her Commons majority wiped out on a night of humiliation for the Tories, she was left with limited room for manoeuvre when it came to re-shaping her top team.
There will be no shortage of figures in her Conservative Party who would like to bring her down ― they have clearly been furiously briefing the media ever since the election results started coming in.
"I am delighted to see Labour do so well", the Vermont senator said in a Facebook post, linking to a Guardian news story. They could not possibly prefer a Labour Party that is itself divided over Brexit.
Elmar Brok, a German conservative and the European Parliament's top Brexit expert, told the Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper talks would be complicated by May's formation of a minority government.
"She's staying, for now", the source told Reuters.
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Party insiders are placing bets on how long May will last, less than a year after Britain's surprise referendum decision propelled her into Downing Street.
"Theresa May is certainly the strongest leader that we have at the moment", lawmaker David Jones told the BBC. He said it was impossible to predict whether she would still be prime minister at the end of the year.
Pressed if he was being clear that the United Kingdom will leave the EU, Mr Corbyn said: "Absolutely". They formed part of May's small inner circle and were blamed by many Conservatives for the party's lackluster campaign and unpopular election platform, which alienated older voters with its plan to take away a winter fuel allowance and make them pay more for long-term care.
European Council President Donald Tusk has warned there was "no time to lose" in starting talks, after May started the two-year countdown to Brexit on March 29.
"May fights to remain PM", the Daily Telegraph headlined.
Mr Lee said he was confident that Mrs May would be able to provide the strong leadership needed to pull the British people together and work out the best deal for the country. "The task of restoring orderly government in order to make sense of Brexit is now a national emergency, and it falls to them". At the time, she was talking up her ability to negotiate with Europe.
Ruth Davidson, leader of Conservatives in Scotland, where the party did well, said the results showed the Conservatives should prioritise good trade relations with the EU.
Other potential rivals such as Chancellor Philip Hammond remain within her government, and have so far mostly said little in public either before or after the election.
Ms Davidson, who wields considerable influence after the Scottish Conservatives won 13 seats, said: "I want to ensure that we can look again at issues like Brexit which we know we are now going to have to get cross-party support for".
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