May's campaign has been tightly stage-managed since it began last month, with a relentless focus on the leader herself rather than the party and constant repetition of a handful of catch-phrases, including "strong and stable leadership" and "coalition of chaos".



Despite repeated complaints that the campaign has been boring and too repetitive -- and that May isn't telling voters enough about what she plans to do if re-elected for the next five years -- the prime minister has stuck to her strategy.

In Teeside, May said leaving the European Union is "this generation's chance to shape a brighter future for our country".

When journalists tried to press her on details afterward, however, she gave no new information.

Ben Wright of the BBC asked May to spell out the "dire consequences" of leaving the EU without a deal. She accused "people in Europe" of wanting to punish Britain and opposition parties in the UK of being willing to accept a deal "whatever the price".

Emily Morgan of ITV News asked the prime minister how she thought her campaign was going, and whether "in your wildest nightmares" the race would be seemingly so close -- a reference to Labour closing the gap dramatically in opinion polls.

May replied that voters had a "clear choice" about who they wanted to lead the country during the Brexit talks and in the future.

Then came Crick.

The Channel 4 News political correspondent, who was a contemporary of May and her husband Philip at Oxford University in the late 1970s, clashed with May at a press conference earlier in the month after her U-turn on social care. That day, he accused her of being not "strong and stable" but "weak and wobbly".

On Thursday, Crick said: "Is the reason that you’re doing so badly is that whenever people ask you about policy, all we get are cliches and platitudes? And we’ve seen the same today. People think there’s nothing there." Then he asked the prime minister to identify where an additional £8 billion promised for the NHS in her manifesto will come from.

"Well, first of all Michael what we have published is a manifesto that addresses the big challenges that this country faces, not just over the next five years but beyond," May responded. "And we have set out, clearly, some of the hard choices that need to be made and how we will address those challenges.

"You ask about extra funding being put into the NHS. Let’s just look at our record of funding on the NHS."

At that point, there was a commotion in the audience as Crick apparently tried to interject, and May admonished: "Yes, Mr Two Microphones, just wait a minute."



More funding for the NHS would come from having a strong economy, May said. As the microphone moved away from Crick, the journalist shouted: "If the economy goes downhill the money to fund the NHS won’t be there, then."

May shot back: "Well people should vote Conservative to make sure the economy doesn’t go downhill."

Beth Rigby, of Sky News, then asked May to "be straight with people" about how many migrants the country could realistically accept each year without damaging the economy. May did not give a figure.