Theresa May has only herself to blame today as she ponders the huge ramifications of the General Election result for her party and the nation.

Her reputation lies in tatters today - so much for the Tory mantra of 'strong and stable leadership'.

The decision to call a snap election and then for the Conservative Party to base its entire campaign around Mrs May has backfired spectacularly.

It was a TERRIBLE campaign.

From the outset, it was absolutely clear that Conservative campaign managers believed Mrs May's appeal to the electorate was an asset to be maximised to the full.

Heck, her name was even bigger than the party logo on battles buses and campaign posters and placards.

In fact, Mrs May turned into a major hindrance and she only got worse as the carefully-managed campaign wore on. As a PR exercise, it was shocking.

She was unconvincing in TV interviews when pressed over policy issues, rarely engaged with anyone but Tory activists on the campaign trail and appeared terribly weak when declining to take part in debates with other party leaders.

In contrast, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn came out with his reputation enhanced.

Whatever anyone thinks about his policies, no one could fail to be impressed by the way he galvanised his supporters around the country.

The uncertainty created by the General Election result is bad for business. No one wanted instability ahead of the Brexit talks, but that's exactly what we've got.

At least here in Gloucestershire, the political landscape has remained largely unchanged, with Richard Graham, Alex Chalk, Mark Harper, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown and Laurence Robertson retaining their seats.

The only change came in Stroud where, unsurprisingly, the popular David Drew unseated Neil Carmichael.

Wherever your political allegiances lie, politics has certainly got interesting.

What do you think? Email mark@moosemarketingandpr.co.uk