Theresa May was right to call snap election says Tory guru

Theresa May was right to call snap election says Tory guru

Theresa May was right to call the snap election that saw her stripped of her Commons majority, Tory guru Lynton Crosby has insisted.

The Australian campaign strategist warned against writing off the embattled PM, saying she could still bounce back.

He also claimed many people voted for Jeremy Corbyn because they were confident he would not win.

Sir Lynton has borne much of the criticism for the lacklustre campaign, with complaints that it failed to put across a positive message and turned off core Conservative voters with curbs to social care and pensions.

Australian guru Sir Lynton Crosby (pictured in 2012) has defended Mrs May's decision to call the election

However, others have pointed out that the Conservative election tactics bore little resemblance to 2015 - when Sir Lynton helped David Cameron secure a surprise overall majority.

The Australian, who was knighted by Mr Cameron after his victory, defended Mrs May's decision to call the election at a business lunch in Sydney last night.

'I think Theresa May was absolutely right in her judgment that she needed the strongest possible position in order that she could negotiate the democratic will of the British people,' Sir Lynton said according to the Guardian.

He insisted the unexpected Labour surge, which saw the party come back from way behind in the polls to gain seats, was partly down to voters lodging a protes t.

'On polling day, over 70 per cent of voters thought the Conservatives were going to win,' Sir Lytnon said.

'So they thought we'll reward (Corbyn) for being prepared to talk about interesting things and shake the system up, but we'll still have the comfort of having Theresa May as prime minister at the end of the day.

Sir Lynton said the advance by Mr Corbyn was also the latest electoral sign of the disillusionment of voters in developed economies.

To win over restive voters, candidates must offer hope as well as stability and continuity, he insisted.

He also higlighted the importance of Momentum in getting out the vote in key constituencies. 

Sir Lynton warned against writing off embattled PM Theresa May (pictured in the Commons today), saying she could still bounce back

'I think that was a very important influence on the campaign,' he said.

'You can have all of the money in the world, and you can have all of the techniques in the world, but at the end of the day … you've got to get people out to vote, which means having people out on the ground, knocking on doors.'

Sir Lynton played down the influence of the so-called 'youthquake' on June 8 - pointing out that older voters staying away from the polls was probably more important.

The estimated 3 percentage point fall in turnout among over 65s equates to 350,000 votes, which would have broken 61-25 for the Tories, according to data produced by polling firm Ipsos Mori.

S ir Lynton noted that Australian PM John Howard had once been labelled 'Mr 14%' for his poor performance in the polls. 'I'm not in the business of writing anyone off,' he said.

The election strategist also cautioned against Remainers thinking that they could overturn the result of the EU referendum last year. 

'All the evidence I've seen, is that, if another referendum were to be held now, more people would vote to leave the EU now than in the referendum,' he said.   

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