Prime Minister Theresa May was fighting to hold on to her job on Friday as British voters dealt her a punishing blow, denying her the stronger mandate she had sought to conduct Brexit talks and instead weakening her party's grip on power.
With no clear winner emerging from Thursday's parliamentary election, a wounded May signaled she would fight on, despite losing her majority in the House of Commons. Her Labour rival Jeremy Corbyn said she should step down.
With 643 out of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives had won 313 seats and were therefore no longer able to reach the 326-mark they would need to command a parliamentary majority. Labour had won 260 seats.
With talks of unprecedented complexity on Britain's departure from the European Union due to start in just 10 days' time, it was unclear who would form the next government and what the fundamental direction of Brexit would be.
"At this time, more than anything else this country needs a period of stability," a grim-faced May said after winning her own parliamentary seat of Maidenhead, near London.
"If ... the Conservative Party has won the most seats and probably the most votes then it will be incumbent on us to ensure that we have that period of stability and that is exactly what we will do."
After winning his own seat in north London, Corbyn said May's attempt to win a bigger mandate had backfired.
"The mandate she's got is lost Conservative seats, lost votes, lost support and lost confidence," he said.
"I would have thought that's enough to go, actually, and make way for a government that will be truly representative of all of the people of this country."
From the EU's perspective, the upset in London meant a possible delay in the start of the talks and an increased risk that negotiations would fail.
"We need a government that can act," EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. "With a weak negotiating partner, there's a danger that the negotiations will turn out badly for both sides."
Conservative member of parliament Anna Soubry was the first in the party to disavow May in public, calling on the prime minister to "consider her position".
"I'm afraid we ran a pretty dreadful campaign," Soubry said.
May had unexpectedly called the snap election seven weeks ago, even though no vote was due until 2020. At that point, polls predicted she would massively increase the slim majority she had inherited from predecessor David Cameron.
Instead, she risks an ignominious exit after just 11 months at Number 10 Downing Street, which would be the shortest tenure of any prime minister for almost a century.
"Whatever happens, Theresa May is toast," said Nigel Farage, former leader of the anti-EU party UKIP.
Sterling fell by more than two cents against the U.S. dollar, hitting an eight-week low of $1.2690, but by 0609 GMT it had recovered to $1.2721.
"A hung parliament is the worst outcome from a markets perspective as it creates another layer of uncertainty ahead of the Brexit negotiations and chips away at what is already a short timeline to secure a deal for Britain," said Craig Erlam, an analyst with brokerage Oanda in London.
May had spent the campaign denouncing Corbyn as the weak leader of a spendthrift party that would crash Britain's economy and flounder in Brexit talks, while she would provide "strong and stable leadership" to clinch a good deal for Britain.
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