The Conservative Party will abandon some of its manifesto commitments as a result of its general election disaster, David Davis has said.
Theresa May is clinging onto power by her fingertips after her decision to gamble on a snap general election disastrously backfired and robbed her of an overall majority.
There has been speculation that May will now ditch the so called “dementia tax”, plans for new grammar schools as well as proposals to means-test winter fuel allowance.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, Davis said: “We are being given an instruction by the British people and we’ve got to carry it out. That may mean that some elements of the manifesto will be pruned away, shall we say.”
The Brexit secretary defended May ahead of her crunch meeting with the backbench Tory 1922 meeting this afternoon. “Theresa May is a very good prime minister. I’ve served with her for 10 months. I’ve seen a number of previous prime ministers in operation. She is incredibly effective as a prime minister,” he said.
But he admitted the prime minister’s election campaign had failed. “The campaign was not a good campaign, let’s be clear about that,” he said.
The prime minister has sought to stave off another Tory civil war by bringing former justice secretary Michael Gove in from the cold less than a year after she sacked him.
His appointment as environment secretary came after former chancellor George Osborne branded her a “dead woman walking”, warning that she could be ousted from No.10 in a matter of days.