Theresa May ‘defied warning about risk of snap election’ according to leaked paper
PRIME Minister Theresa May ignored a warning from a key strategist that calling a snap election was a 'huge risk' - according to a leaked document.
The 'killer memo' leaked to the Mail on Sunday was reportedly written by Tory election guru Sir Lynton Crosby, nicknamed the 'Wizard of Oz' because of his record of success.
It is said to have been written days before the shock June 8 election was called in April.
May banked on a landslide win but lost her House of Commons in one of the biggest political miscalculations in living memory.
According to the leaked memo, Crosby told the Prime Minister there was 'a lot of risk' in calling a snap ballot as voters didn't want uncertainty.
He reportedly warned she could end up doing no better than David Cameron in 2015 - and she in fact did worse.
The Mail on Sunday reports the ‘Election Strategic Note – April 2017,’ says: "Summary: There is clearly a lot of risk involved with holding an early election – and a real need to nail down the “why” for doing so now.
"Voters are actively seeking to avoid uncertainty and maintain the status quo, yet by calling an election the Conservatives are the ones who are creating uncertainty.
"Voters don’t want the uncertainty that an election will cause, in large part because they are worried about the risk of a hung Parliament creating chaos over the delivery of Brexit."
One part of the memo, May reportedly did heed was to cast herself as 'strong and stable' while targeting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
But the 'strong and stable' strategy unravelled over the 'dementia tax' which party figures say was added at the last minute by Nick Timothy, the PM's co-head of staff.
The PM stunned MPs earlier this week by declaring her ambition to stay in charge for many more years, while all had presumed she planned to stand down in 2019 after delivering Brexit.
One prominent Tory MP dubbed her as “living in la-la land”, while another called their leader “deluded”.
The powerful chairman of Tory MPs’ 1922 committee claimed Mrs May had only meant to rule out wild speculation that she had picked a precise date to stand down in two years time.
While insisting nobody in the party wanted a fresh leadership contest now, Graham Brady added: “I think the comment that Theresa made was far more a rebuttal of an unfounded story last week which suggested she had fixed the date in 2019 to resign”.
A Survation poll for the Mail on Sunday put Labour on 43%, a five-point lead over the Tories on 38%.
Some 42% of voters said it was "unthinkable" that Mrs May will fight the next election - including 39% of Tory supporters - and Mr Corbyn was backed by 40% to win the next election, one point ahead of the Prime Minister.
A total of 31% said the Tories were more likely to win the next election if Mrs May quit, more than double the 15% who said they were less likely to succeed.
Boris Johnson was backed by 19% to succeed her - 21% among Tory voters - with Jacob Rees-Mogg backed by 9% (including 15% of Tories) and Philip Hammond on 8% (12% among Tory voters).