By Griff Witte   
The pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May to step aside following a humiliating election grew Saturday, with her two top aides resigning, a leading newspaper pronouncing her “fatally wounded” and a former minister acknowledging that Tories were plotting possible replacements via the messaging service WhatsApp.   

The aides who resigned, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, May’s fiercely loyal co-chiefs of staff, had been blamed within the Conservative Party for the lackluster campaign.   

Their departures were seen Saturday as a Downing Street bid to stave off a far more dramatic resignation: that of the prime minister herself.   

But it was unclear whether it would be enough, with some Conservatives acknowledging that May has effectively become a lame-duck leader following a vote that was supposed to give her a resounding mandate but instead morphed into a stinging rejection that could end her premiership within days.

  
Senior Tories have been conspicuous in their silence, and behind the scenes the party has been engaged in fevered debate whether to push for May’s ouster - if not now, then perhaps in several months after Britain’s EU divorce talks have launched.  
c) 2017, The Washington Post ·June 11, 2017 - LONDON