"He couldn't get to 326 so it is quite right that the Prime Minister, who is very almost there at 318, does sit down with a party with whom we do have many things in common, particularly resolving Brexit, and see if she can find a way forward", he said.
May's authority has been weakened after her gamble in calling an early election backfired, leaving her increasingly dependent on fellow Conservatives who object to her plan for a clean break from the EU.
With her government majority at zero, May has no control over Parliament a week away from the Queen's Speech, when new laws are presented, and the scheduled start of Brexit talks.
The Conservatives won 318 seats out of the 650 in last Thursday's vote, meaning they now require support to govern and have chosen the eurosceptic Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has 10 seats, for that.
Next week, it is entering formal Brexit talks, regarded as its most important negotiations since the end of War World II.
European Union talks might not begin on June 19 as expected, Brexit minister David Davis said and the Queen's Speech, due on the same day in which the government traditionally spells out its policy plans, has also been delayed, the BBC reported.
On June 19, the Queen, in traditional state coach and full regalia, will travel from Buckingham Palace to Parliament to unveil the new government's legislative agenda.
The Brexit Secretary said the talks would take place that week, but not necessarily on the Monday due to the clash with the Queen's Speech at Westminster. May should be able to use these two set-piece events to shape the country's future. George Osborne, a former chancellor under Cameron and sacked by May last July, branded her "a dead woman walking", saying "the only question is how long she remains on death row".
The Prime Minister was forced to perform an unprecedented U-turn within days of the publication of the Tory manifesto by announcing there would be a cap on social care costs, something that had been absent in the original policy document.
One senior backbencher told the BBC that she had appeared "contrite and genuine but not on her knees". She also angered pensioners - a fatal move.
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley Just Nailed Down Trump's Climate Views
Trump, he said, is not going to renegotiate the treaty despite suggesting he might do so "because he doesn't believe in it". More frequent forest fires, accelerated sea level rise, increased coastal flooding and longer, more intense heat waves.
In a surprise move, Michael Gove was appointed environment and agriculture minister less than a year after the prime minister sacked him as justice minister.
MPs and ministers also feel they were treated disdainfully by May's two chiefs of staff, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, who resigned over the weekend as the PM tried to make concessions.
May faced Conservative party lawmakers at a meeting of its 1922 Committee.
"The other side of the coin is that if you go into a negotiation without the ability to walk away, then you will have a poorer outcome from that negotiation, it doesn't matter if you're buying a house or doing an worldwide trade deal".
Mr Timothy said: "I take responsibility for my part in this election campaign, which was the oversight of our policy programme".
May will host Arlene Foster in Downing Street to discuss terms of the DUP's backing for her minority government, reports the BBC.
When the snap 2017 General Election showed Sinn Fein might be useful in propping up a Labour coalition, party president Gerry Adams insisted there was "no chance" abstentionism would be ditched. That power is now lost.
Ministers have urged May to put forward a more "pragmatic" vision for Brexit rather than "ideological", one that it less virulently anti-EU.
High up on the DUP's Brexit priorities is a "frictionless border with the Irish Republic", and ensuring this border is "soft" will be essential for the DUP during Brexit.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, is a possibility, but a Westminster seat would have to be found for her. "I really don't see them colouring talks". "She is fine, she is getting on the with the job".
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