Cabinet meeting provides first post-election test for embattled May

London : British Prime Minister Theresa May was expected to hold her first cabinet meeting on Saturday in an early test of her hopes of forming a stable government after a crushing election setback.

Facing demands to quit after her electoral gamble failed, May on Friday scheduled an early weekend meeting of her governing circle in an apparent bid to reassert authority and project stability.

But the firestorm of criticism continued unabated early Saturday after May announced she would keep her ministerial team unchanged and planned to stay in power with the aid of a small Northern Irish party.

Media commentators agreed she had been badly damaged, and some predicted she and her strategy for Brexit could struggle to survive.

"May fights to remain PM," the Daily Telegraph headlined. "Tories turn on Theresa," said the pro-conservative Daily Mail. The Times wrote: "May stares into the abyss." The tabloid Sun said succinctly: "She's had her chips."

May was interior minister for six years before rising to premier in the political chaos that following last June's Brexit referendum.

She has vowed to steer Britain unerringly out of the European Union, unwinding a complex economic and institutional relationship that has developed over 44 years.

After inheriting a 17-seat overall majority in the House of Commons, May in April announced a snap election three years ahead of time, declaring she needed a stronger hand in the Brexit haggle.

That move, by a vicar's daughter who styled herself as pragmatic and risk-averse, stunned the country.

May was initially forecast to be on course for a landslide.

But cracks in her campaign-trail performance began to show, and widened with a bad tactical misstep she made on health care for the elderly.

Those flaws were skilfully exploited by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran grassroots activist who hammered away at May as cold and uncaring.

Polling day on Thursday delivered a slap to May, leaving her eight seats short of the 326-seat mark for an overall majority.