Theresa May has told a meeting of her Conservative backbenchers: “I got us into this mess, and I’m going to get us out of it.”

A senior MP at the meeting of the party’s 1922 Committee described the prime minister as “contrite and genuine but not on her knees” as she repeatedly apologised for the election result that cost her party its majority.

“There was was none of the Maybot,” added the MP, who said the Tory leader’s response had taken away the sense of a leadership battle.

Another MP leaving the committee room said: “She was very concerned about people who have lost their seats. The party is going to help them, some of them are in dire financial situations. She did say sorry, several times. She apologised for colleagues losing their seats, for making the call about the early election.”

Tories banged on the tables for about 30 seconds as May arrived for the crunch meeting in front of her politicians, many of whom have expressed anger at the result. The prime minister was said to offer reassurance that an electoral pact with the DUP would not affect gay rights.

MPs said the room was roasting hot, packed with members of the House of Lords as well as MPs. May took questions, but one MP described them as more like “speeches”.



There was no appetite for a leadership election, the MP said. “That’s the last thing the country needs. She said she would serve us as long as we want her, and that she’s been a party servant since she was 12 years old, stuffing envelopes.”

MPs said there was a tacit acceptance of the need to build a better consensus. “A broader backing for Brexit has to be built and I think she recognises that,” one former minister said. “She was clear she was responsible. She agreed on the need to listen to all the wings of the party on Brexit.”

At the centre of the debate were concerns about the manifesto. MPs told the prime minister it had been a disaster with voters, particularly policies on social care and the decision to press ahead with school funding cuts.



“Public sector workers felt very strongly about austerity,” a former cabinet minister said. “We have to offer a message of aspiration, which is a very Conservative word.”

The so-called “dementia tax” reforms to social care were also raised, MPs said, and the prime minister acknowledged the move had been unpopular, as had school cuts.



Several MPs told May they had difficulties rebutting questions over school funding on doorsteps and in local hustings. Justine Greening, the education secretary, had been told to focus on addressing those concerns, the prime minister said.



Leaving the committee room, MPs described May’s response as “emotionally intelligent” given how she had been criticised for not mentioning the colleagues who had lost their seats in her first appearance after the election as she entered Downing Street.

“There was a discussion, but there wasn’t a single MP who dissented,” one minister said. Several were aghast at the idea of another election.

Lessons would be learned from what went right as well as wrong, one minister said, with the party’s 12 new Scottish MPs greeted with cheers when they arrived.



Gavin Barwell, the former housing minister who lost his seat and has since been appointed the prime minister’s chief of staff, was cheered on arrival and hailed by one MP previously critical of May as “a huge step forward”.

MPs said May spoke unprompted about concerns they might have about the DUP, especially over gay rights. “She said there would be no watering down of equalities legislation, which is to be welcomed,” one MP said.