G20 Summit: Theresa May promises 'bold' leadership for Brexit Britain
THERESA May today promised "bold" leadership for Britain in a defiant message to critics urging her to quit.
Fighting back against sniping attacks both from Labour and Tory ranks, the Prime Minister insisted she would not be blown off course from ambition to deliver a complete break from the EU by last month's bruising election set back.
She also signalled her intention to press ahead with an ambitious domestic agenda alongside her Brexit plans.
And she went on to pledge to crack down on the widespread political intimidation and abuse by Left-wing thugs that marred the election campaign.
Mrs May's sharp riposte to her carping opponents was delivered during a series of media interviews on the fringes of the G20 Summit of world leaders in Germany yesterday.
Speaking to the BBC, the Prime Minster admitted that the election result “didn’t come out as it hoped I would."
She said: “There’s two ways the government can react to that. We can be very timid and sit back or we can be bold and that’s what we are going to be.”
And asked how the poll had affected her personally, she replied: "Well, I’m still Prime Minister.”
Her remarks followed a punishing spell for her Government, with an opinion poll yesterday giving Labour an eight-point lead over the Tories.
Labour's hard-Left leader Jeremy Corbyn has urged her to quit and other figures in his party have called for mass protests on the street to force her out of office.
It also emerged yesterday that some junior Tory ministers regard her authority as irreparably damaged and expect a party leadership contest within weeks.
But Mrs May has told her allies that she has no plans to quit and intends to stay in Downing Street for a full five year term. In a sign of her determination to rebuild her Downing Street team for the long-term, she recruited senior BBC journalist Robbie Gibb to be her new communications chief earlier this week.
Today the Prime Minister signalled that she was paying little attention to the criticism.
In another interview, the Prime Minister denied making a mistake in triggering the general election that robbed her of her Tory majority in the Commons.
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She said: "If we look at the general election, of course, the result didn’t go in the way that I’d hope.
“I think it was the right decision to actually call that election. I’d hoped for a different result," she said.
“I think what’s important is that we get on with the job and getting on with the job is about delivering for people."
Mrs May also pledged action to "stamp out" bullying and intimidation on the election trail.
A string of Tory MPs have reported incidents of party election posters being vandalised and destroyed as well as damage to homes.
There have also been widespread reports of vile abuse of Tory MPs and supporters online.
Some MPs suspect that hard-Left groups supporting Mr Corbyn may have been involved in co-ordinating some of the abuse.
Mrs May said: "I've been absolutely shocked at the number of colleagues who have talked to me about intimidation and harassment, about bullying during the election campaign.
"There can be no place in our democracy for behaviour like that.
"I'm determined to do something about it. I'm determined to stamp it out.
"I would say to do that we need all party leaders to condemn this bullying, harassment and intimidation.
"We can have none of this in our democracy and we need to act to stamp it out."
A senior Tory source yesterday said the abuse was discussed at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.
A number of measures to tackle physical abuse and online smears were being looked at, the source said.
The source added: "This is a blight on democracy. We do not want people being put off standing for Parliament by this sort of behaviour."