Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill have resigned as joint chiefs of staff to Theresa May after the Tory election disaster.

Mr Timothy admitted to a mistake in how he drafted a social care policy for the manifesto seen as a major factor in the electoral setbacks that left Mrs May clinging desperately to power.

But he claimed the wider Tory campaign had failed to spot a surge in Labour support even while the Conservative vote soared to 'historically high' levels.

Both issued statements defending Mrs May today after a former No 10 aide today revealed a 'toxic' atmosphere in Downing Street.

Mrs May had been under pressure to fire both of her top advisers in the aftermath of the shock losses which wiped out the Conservative majority in Parliament.

The resignations could help hold off a challenge to Mrs May's Tory leadership. The PM is reshuffling her Cabinet today as she tries to shore up her position.

Katie Perrior, who resigned from Downing Street when the election was called, revealed the pair ran a dysfunctional No 10 obsessed with crushing enemies.

A former aide to Theresa May today revealed the 'toxic' atmosphere in No 10 when it was run by her joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill (pictured together at Tory HQ today)

Mr Timothy and Ms Hill have been blamed for the disastrous Conservative election campaign which saw a shock loss of Tory seats.

Writing on the Conservative Home website, Mr Timothy said: 'I take responsibility for my part in this election campaign, which was the oversight of our policy programme.

'In particular, I regret the decision not to include in the manifesto a ceiling as well as a floor in our proposal to help meet the increasing cost of social care.

'But I would like to make clear that the bizarre media reports about my own role in the policy's inclusion are wrong: it had been the subject of many months of work within Whitehall, and it was not my personal pet project.'

Mr Timothy insisted the Conservative campaign secured an 'historically high number' of votes on Thursday - more even than Tony Blair managed in 1997.

But he said: 'The reason for the disappointing result was not the absence of support for Theresa May and the Conservatives but an unexpected surge in support for Labour.

Katie Perrior, who resigned from Downing Street when the election was called, revealed the pair ran a dysfunctional No 10 obsessed with crushing enemies.

'One can speculate about the reasons for this, but the simple truth is that Britain is a divided country: many are tired of austerity, many remain frustrated or angry about Brexit, and many younger people feel they lack the opportunities enjoyed by their parents' generation.'

In a blast at the Lynton Crosby-led campaign, Mr Timithy added: 'It failed to notice the surge in Labour support, because modern campaigning techniques require ever-narrower targeting of specific voters, and we were not talking to the people who decided to vote for Labour.'

Mr Timothy claimed Mrs May was the Tory politician best able to respond to this shift in the electorate in a signal of how the PM may attempt to cling to her post.

In her own statement, Ms Hill said: 'It's been a pleasure to serve in government, and a pleasure to work with such an excellent Prime Minister.

'I have no doubt at all that Theresa May will continue to serve and work hard as Prime Minister – and do it brilliantly.'

Senior Conservative MP Nigel Evans welcomed the resignations this afternoon as he blasted the 'daft and bonkers' manifesto drafted by Mr Timothy.

Michael Fabricant, another Conservative MP, was more sympathetic tweeting: 'Sad in many ways, though understand why, Nick Timothy quit.

'He was main architect of Brexit, including need to leave Single Market.'

Ms Hill and Mr Timothy (pictured in No 10 in May) were Mrs May's gatekeepers in Downing Street and were known as having absolute power over access to the Prime Minister

Mr Timothy (pictured last June) took the blame for his role in the electon disaster today but dismissed claims he had personally forced a controversial policy on social care into the Tory manifesto

Since the results began rolling in yesterday, Mr Timothy and Ms Hill have been blamed for the disastrous election campaign which saw a shock loss of Tory seats.

Mr Timothy blasted Lynton Crosby (pictured) for running a campaign that failed to spot the surge in Labour support

It has been claimed they were responsible for talking Mrs May into calling the snap election and that the PM only agreed to do so on the promise of a 100+ majority.

Ms Perrior today revealed the 'stench' caused in No 10 by the duo, who have worked with Mrs May as gatekeepers and attack dogs for years.

She told the BBC Today programme: 'Being in the Home Office for such a long time with that being her top team she became accustomed to that being it.

'Of course, running the Home Office is very different from running the country.

'Trying to make that change to Number 10 was more difficult than she possibly anticipated.

'I used to wonder why because actually she needed to broaden her circle of advisers, she needed to have a few grey hairs in there who have been around the block a bit, who could say don't do that, don't make enemies when you don't need to.'

Ms Perrior described meetings in Downing Street where Ms Hill would come up with 'crazy' ideas - but that Mrs May would rarely overrule her.

Theresa May (pictured at No 10 yesterday) is reeling after losing seats in a disastrous election campaign

Writing in The Times, Ms Perrior described a bizarre encounter on the day of the Copeland by-election when Ms Hill demanded Boris Johnson be deployed to the constituency - despite the campaign being over and the only goal being to get out the vote.

Ms Perrior wrote: 'Fiona protested and the prime minister overruled her, saying: ''Fiona, I'd like to know what the point of all this is. If Boris goes up there today, he will be in tomorrow's papers and that will be too late. Anyone who knows anything about campaigning knows that''.

'The room fell silent. I wanted the floor to swallow me up. The prime minister had, for once, dared to raise her voice, a rare moment.

'Normally we would all sit there while Fiona would raise some batshit crazy idea and not say a word. This one clearly had the prime minister rattled. As it was, Parky oversaw a stunning victory in Copeland and was vindicated.'

In her BBC interview, Ms Perrior said both of the top aides did not respect long-serving ministers.

She revealed: 'There was not enough respect shown to people who spent 20 years in office or 20 years getting to the top seat in Government.

'They would send people text messages - rude text messages - which is not acceptable.

'What the prime minister needs at a time that you're going through Brexit is diplomats not street-fighters.

'They only really know one way to operate - and that is to have enemies and I'm sure I'm one of them this morning.'

Mrs May (pictured yesterday and right with husband Philip after the results) will hope the resignations of her most senior aides will help her keep a grip in No 10 in the aftermath of the disastrous election

Asked why she quit as Mrs May's communications director, Ms Perrior added: 'Every month that went past I felt I've done pretty well for holding on because it was pretty toxic.'

Former minister Ed Vaizey today admitted Tory MPs were feverishly speculating about Mrs May's future.

Asked if there were phone calls being made between Tories about the next leader, Mr Vaizey told the BBC: 'That's so 20th century. It's all on WhatsApp.'

He added: 'We all talk on WhatsApp ... lots of MPs are in lots of different groups.'

Vaizey said he hoped the election result would soften May's stance on Brexit, adding: 'I hope in the next few days we will see a clear acknowledgement that a 'no deal is better than a bad deal' is off the table, that we are going for a Brexit that is going to secure jobs and investment.'

Before the results emerged yesterday, Mr Timothy was already under fire for inserting into the manifesto at the last minute the social care pledge which blew up the Tory campaign.

Labour spinner Damian McBride reflected today that the state of the Tories was 'bad' when ever his colleagues from the Gordon Brown era thought so

Mrs May has been criticised ever since taking over No 10 last summer for keeping decisions within their secretive triangle of three.

Ms Hill and Mr Timothy have worked with Mrs May since she was Home Secretary.

One senior backbencher said: 'Obviously some people are talking about changing personnel. I think that's very much a matter for the Prime Minister to decide for herself.

'If you start changing your advisors then you have conceded something quite important. But I do think there needs to be a real effort to make sure there are open lines of communication.'

Before the polls closed yesterday, one Minister described the Conservative campaign as the 'worst in living memory'.

They said: 'Is it the end of the Nick and Fi show? Everybody wants it to be but she [Theresa May] is very stubborn.'

Another backbench Tory added: 'There have to be lessons learned. There's a lots of people with grey hair who Theresa could use. If the manifesto had been properly passed by them they would have put a stop to it.

'Manifestos are usually apple pie and ice cream. Instead we got three spoonfuls of arsenic and – surprise surprise – people didn't like it.'

Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill (pictured this morning), Mrs May's joint chiefs of staff, were warned their extraordinary controlling role at No 10 cannot continue even if their boss keeps power

Mrs May has been criticised ever since taking over No 10 last summer for keeping decisions within their secretive triangle of three.

The influential ConservativeHome website, edited by former MP Paul Goodman, said the 'consensus view' among Tory backbenchers and ministers is that the Prime Minister's authority has 'received a blow from which it is unlikely to recover'.

Mr Goodman said they believed Mrs May's two closest advisers, joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill 'must go' and there could be major changes to the Brexit process, single market membership 'may now be on the table', the website said.

He added: 'All this, remember, is on the assumption that May somehow gains a working majority, or is Prime Minister in a hung Parliament.

'In the latter circumstance, a second election in the autumn will be likely.

'With the threat of a second election hanging over their heads, Conservative backbenchers would be unlikely to mount a leadership challenge, but May's days as leader would be numbered.'