Theresa May admits she cried when she saw the shock exit poll showing she would lose her majority
The Prime Minister said she was shocked by how badly the Tories had done in the General Election
THERESA MAY today admitted she wept when she heard the result of the exit poll which showed she had lost her Commons majority.
The Prime Minister said she was shocked and devastated by the election result after her husband Philip told her she was on track to lose seats despite predictions she would win a huge majority.
The admission came as she marked one year exactly since she became Prime Minister.
Asked when she realised her snap election gambit had flopped, Mrs May told BBC Radio 5 Live: "It was when I heard the exit poll. To be honest with you, I didn't actually watch the exit poll myself, I have a little superstition about that.
"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."
Asked if she started to cry on hearing the result, the PM told presenter Emma Barnett, "Yes, a little tear at that moment."
She added: "I felt devastated, really. 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 other people that were passed on to me were that we were going to get a better result than we did."
But she insisted she never considered resigning from Number 10 despite the humiliating election result, saying: "I felt I had a responsibility to ensure the country had a government.
"We were the biggest party - we won more votes than the Labour party, more seats than the Labour party - we were the only party able to form a government, and I felt it was our responsibility to do that."
In an apparent dig at David Cameron's decision to quit after the EU referendum, she added: "It can be easy sometimes if something like this happens just to walk away and leave somebody else to deal with it."
Mrs May also paid tribute to the role her husband plays in supporting her political career - she said: "He's been a huge support for me over the years - there are times when I have to get him to read a newspaper article for me and tell me what it says, rather than reading it directly."
The PM admitted her respect for Jeremy Corbyn had grown after she saw him deal with the attack on a mosque last month in Finsbury Park, part of his local constituency.
She said: "He was there through the night with his constituents - I saw a Jeremy Corbyn there was was a good constituency MP."
Last night, Mrs May pleaded with Sun readers to keep her in office through the Brexit process - while admitting she had not done enough to win over voters to her vision of Britain.
She became Prime Minister on July 13, 2016 - two days after her rival Andrea Leadsom withdrew from the Tory leadership election, leaving Mrs May as the only candidate to replace David Cameron.
The PM has been left seriously weakened since she lost her Commons majority altogether in last month's election, leaving her reliant on the DUP to push through her agenda.
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Mrs May received support today from Mrs Leadsom, her main opponent in the leadership contest last year.
The Leader of the House of Commons said she was "absolutely committed" to the PM and said Mrs May should lead the Tories into the next election.
She told The House magazine: "For every leader, they make their decisions and I certainly think she will be leading this country for as long as she wishes to do so."