What went wrong for the Tories?

Inside CCHQ there is a sense that three things cost them their majority in this election. First, the public were fed up with austerity. With the Tories taking the deficit off the table as an issue, they had no plan to balance the books in the next five years, and they had no response to Jeremy Corbyn’s promise to spend more on pretty much everything. Second, there was a Brexit backlash. Those who had voted Remain turned up in great numbers at this election and voted against the Tory candidate. Third, Theresa May turned out not to be who the voters thought she was. Voters liked her because they thought she was a different kind of politician. But in this campaign, May looked like a typical politician – repeatedly refusing to answer questions – and an uncharismatic one at that. The so-called ‘dementia tax’ also made many elderly and right-leaning voters question her values.