LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - Britain's Theresa May told her party on Monday she would serve as prime minister as long as they wanted after a botched election gamble cost the party its majority in parliament and weakened London's hand days before formal Brexit negotiations.
"I got us into this mess, and I'm going to get us out", May told Conservative MPs during a meeting in Westminster.
May looked set to face criticism and anger from Conservative MPs at a private meeting in parliament over her handling of an election that lost the party its parliamentary majority.
As the Conservative Party digested the loss of its majority in last week's election, government officials suggested both the announcement of the prime minister's agenda, known as the Queen's Speech, and talks over Britain's divorce from the European Union could be postponed.
It was a surprise move - Mr Gove was sacked as justice minister by Mrs May previous year after his bid to become party leader forced now-foreign minister Boris Johnson from the race, amid accusations of treachery and political backstabbing. "Now is the time for delivery - and Theresa May is the right person to continue that vital work".
The Conservatives won 318 seats out of the 650 in last Thursday's vote, meaning they now require support to govern and have chosen the eurosceptic Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has 10 seats, for that.
Mrs May met lawmakers from her Conservative Party yesterday to convince them that she should remain as leader after some had called for her to quit, following her lacklustre campaign and decision to call the election in the first place.
The 60-year-old leader said she had tapped experience across the "whole of the Conservative Party" when she appointed Michael Gove, a long-serving cabinet minister who had clashed with May when she was home secretary, as agriculture minister.
An admirer of Karl Marx and Hugo Chavez, Mr. Corbyn is arguably the most radical left-wing party leader in British electoral history. Had Corbyn won, there would have been no guarantee of a successful Brexit, not least because the Labour leadership had fiercely opposed Britain leaving the European Union ahead of the UK's 2016 referendum on EU membership.
Mr Davis suggested he was open to co-operation with Labour on the issue but rejected the idea of the United Kingdom remaining in the single market.
Mr Davis told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We are being given an instruction by the British people and we've got to carry it out".
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"When will be the point from moving to talking about talks, to more detailed talks, I can not say".
May had called the election expecting a mandate for her hard Brexit agenda as the country prepares to launch formal divorce talks with the European Union next week.
Her two closest aides have resigned, any plans for a wide reshuffle of her top ministers were put firmly aside and she will most probably have to rein in her reform program, now dependent on a small Northern Irish party for support.
Conservative veteran Nicholas Soames said after the meeting: "Unreserved support for PM at 1922".
But the BBC reported: "The BBC understands the Queen's Speech will be delayed by a few days".
Brexit Secretary David Davis said that some policies planned before the election would be pruned back.
"Overall, we believe that the election outcome will hamper Brexit negotiations and increase fiscal risks, and therefore be negative for the U.K.'s credit profile", Moody's said in a statement. She is in talks with Northern Ireland's DUP to allow her to stay in power.
The uncertainty has hit business confidence, according to a survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD).
The Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, and the SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, said that the reappointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, should not chair the talks because the prospective Conservative-DUP link-up meant he could not be impartial, which would go against the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
She sat in "stony-faced silence" when the exit poll was released at 10pm, and "took a minute to say anything" when it became clear that the Tories had lost their House of Commons' majority.
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