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A very different Theresa May has appeared outside No.10 Downing Street this lunchtime as she scrambles to look calm after her disastrous General Election campaign.

She may be seething underneath but the Prime Minister returned from visiting the Queen to ask permission to form a government - after striking a deal with the DUP - with a steely glare of defiance and spring in her step.

Smiling for the first time time since yesterday - and with her husband Philip by her side beaming broadly in an even more marked contrast to how he himself appeared in Maidenhead last night - she was incomparable with the broken-looking, vulnerable PM we saw on TV hours earlier.

And it wasn't just her demeanour but her language that sounded different - as she notably cracked open a new soundbite word, appearing to have swapped 'Strong and Stable' for 'Certainty'.

Indeed, it sounded like she delivered that word with much more conviction than its predecessor- as if she would be embarrassed to use the phrase ever again.

(Image: Rex Features) (Image: London News Pictures Ltd)

According to body language analyst Judi James, there was even a final nod at the end that suggested unquestionable 'defiance' - before the couple stood the grimmest-faced 'winners' pose ever on the steps of number 10.

Judi said: "This was very much a return of the Maybot, a slightly jerky but far more upright figure who spoke her lines with neither warmth nor regret in her demeanor.

"The gaudy orange suit had been swapped for some sharp and slightly scary, no-nonsense navy power-dressing.

"There were no tie-signs, i.e. no small knowing glances, smiles or shrugs to signal silently to her audience that things had gone awry."

(Image: PA) (Image: Getty Images Europe)

Judi added that the PM "delivered her message in speak-your-weight style, only breaking from the hard delivery once, to perform a slight staccato head tilt on the word 'majority' to suggest she was going to cling to the win rather than rake through the ashes of the disaster."

It was a very different body language performance from last night - when the realisation that her General Election gamble had backfired visibly began to strike her.

Judi said last night that the PM "might do snap elections and U-turns and even 'naughty' walks through cornfields but the one thing Theresa May doesn't do is a proper poker face".

(Image: AFP)

"She can bluff ok: the Thatcher-esque fast-paced dash into the room was supposed to signal strength of vision and purpose, while the favourite orange-red suit cut a bizarrely gaudy note when basic black might have been more appropriate, but her facial expression remained stricken throughout," she continued.

"Fortunately May avoided the old political trick of the 'Oscar night losers' face where you slap on a cheesy smile and try to look as though you've won but she did try to do 'strong and stable', during her speech where, despite a slight crack in the voice, she went for a stern face with almost robotic head movements, bobbing slightly as she turned within an arc to ensure we all got her message.

(Image: Rex Features)

"She looked stricken though. She tried to pull her face into a small smile of confidence at one moment but it looked as though the muscles let her down and although she did finish on a rather angry-looking stare that might have suggested defiance it was all a little too over-congruent to really work."