WATCH Theresa May: I shed a tear when I heard about the general election exit poll
2 min read
Theresa May has admitted that she “shed a tear” when told that the election night exit poll showed the Conservatives would fail to win an overall majority.
The Prime Minister said she felt “devastated” when husband Philip told her the 10 o'clock prediction, which came as a “complete shock”.
“To be honest with you, I didn't actually watch the exit poll myself, I have a little superstition about that,” she told BBC 5Live’s Emma Barnett.
"My husband watched it for me and came and told me, and I was shocked at the result that came through in the exit poll.
"It took a few minutes for that to sink in, what it was telling me - my husband gave me a hug, and then I got on the phone to the Conservative party to find out what had happened."
Mrs May said messages she received from those close to her were that the night would end with a “better result”.
“I felt devastated really, because I knew the campaign wasn’t going perfectly, but still the messages I was getting from people I was speaking to, but also the comments we were getting back from a lot of people that were being passed on to me, were that we were going to get a better result than we did.
When asked if the revelation led to her weeping, she said: “Yes, a little tear, at that moment”.
The Prime Minister added that there was no point in time which suggested the campaign would need to change tack.
“I knew it wasn’t going perfectly – no campaign goes perfectly – but it wasn’t the case that there was a point in time that it was sort of suddenly, ‘we need to change direction or campaign’… rather than what we were doing previously,” she added.
Mrs May also revealed that at no point had she considered standing down from her post.
“No, I didn’t consider stepping down because I felt a responsibility there to ensure that the country still had a Government.
She added: “It’s distressing seeing people who you know did a good job lose their seats, and I called the election, I led the campaign and I take responsibility for what happened..."
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