How Theresa May blew her power and influence during a tumultuous first year as PM

It started with a coronation, it nearly ended with a coup. Theresa May's first year as prime minister must be one of the most turbulent tales in British political history. If you cast your mind back to last July, May, the vicar's daughter, had seen her rivals bring each other down and her final foe self-destruct.

Michael Gove dramatically quit as Boris Johnson's campaign manager to launch his own kamikaze-style bid to become David Cameron's successor, while fellow Vote Leave campaigner Andrea Leadsom spectacularly sabotaged her own campaign by suggesting that she was a better choice for prime minister of May because she had children.

Leadsom quit the race amid the furore, leaving May, the soon-to-be former home secretary, as the last (wo)man standing. With Cameron out of the picture, May quickly put her own mark on Number 10 and the Conservative Party. She promised to fight the "burning injustices" of Britain and, crucially, declared "Brexit means Brexit".

May's new brand of Toryism, which welcomed more state intervention, saw a new phrase enter the political lexicon – "just about managing families" or JAMs. The prime minister promised to reach out to "ordinary working class" people, who were making ends meet.

May's rhetoric went down well with the electorate as the Tories enjoyed consistent double-digit poll leads in the opinion polls and the Conservative faithful lapped up her speech at the party's annual conference in Birmingham in October.

The prime minister was riding high until anti-Heathrow campainger Zac Goldsmith decided to quit the Tories and trigger a by-election for his Richmond Park seat in leafy south west London.

Goldsmith,a Brexit backer, wanted the vote to be a referendum on the proposed airport expansion. His constituents, however, had other ideas and decided to pick pro-EU Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney as their new MP.

Goldsmith's political demise was a minor blow for May, who, with former rivals Boris Johnson and Leadsom in her cabinet, was enjoying the full support of her party. The Tory premier was also boosted by Labour's internal turmoil and a string of poor performances at Prime Minister's Questions by the party's left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

A trip to White House to meet US President Donald Trump and talk of a snap general election ushered in the new year, with Number 10 continuously playing down such suggestions.

Those election calls would intensify within the Conservative ranks after the Copeland by-election in February. The vote saw Trudy Harrison secure a surprise win over Labour to turn the Cumbrian constituency blue.

With MPs backing the triggering of Article 50, the mechanism to split from the EU, that same month, the next step would be for May to hand the notification into Brussels in March.

Before that could happen, however, her fellow Remain-campaigner and Chancellor Philip Hammond gave the prime minister a very large headache.

Hammond proposed increasing National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for millions of self-employed workers. May was facing a Tory backbench rebellion over the tax hike, with the media pointing out that the 2015 Conservative manifesto promised no rises in NICs, income tax or VAT.

The Chancellor would eventually U-turn on the plan, but his credibility was considerably dented. With the NICs furore aside, May went onto trigger Article 50 in late March, with the UK's new diplomat to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, hand-delivering the letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk.

"Brexit meant Brexit" and that stance saw May's popularity grow as two opinion polls gave the Conservatives a 21-point lead over Labour. The speculation around a snap election was back, with the usual denials from Downing Street.

Then, on 18 April, May went all-in and called for a vote. "The country is coming together but Westminster is not," she warned. Under the Fixed-Term Parliament Act 2011, the Tories would need two-thirds support in the House of Commons. Labour obliged and the election campaign kicked off in May.

The first half of the campaign looked good for May as the Tories won the West Midlands and Tees Valley mayorships at the local elections. The post-industrial areas were traditionally Labour, suggesting that Mayism was taking the Tories to new places.

The second half of the campaign was a totally different story. May's reluctance to take part in the TV debates with Corbyn made her look weak rather than strong.

The party's manifesto also proved toxic as the Conservatives promised a free vote for MPs on repealing the fox hunting ban. Another nasty was then unveiled, the so called "dementia tax".

The policy, which would have seen elderly people in England pay for their own costs if they had assets worth more than £100,000 went down like a cup of cold sick with the electorate.

On top of that, the Manchester Arena suicide bombing on 22 May and London Bridge terror attack on 3 June put security at the top of political agenda. Corbyn capitalised by raising the question May's six years in the Home Office and her cuts to police forces across England and Wales.

The Conservatives' slumped, with all the major pollsters giving the party single-digit leads over Labour. The Tories hoped that the polls, on the back of Brexit and Donald Trump's surprise White House victory, were wrong. But they were met with an almighty shock when, at 22:00 BST on 8 June, the broadcasters' exit poll predicted a hung parliament.

May's plan to hold the election to bolster her pro-Brexit position had backfired. Corbyn, meanwhile, was boosted as Labour won 30 extra seats.

The prime minister looked dead in the water, but no coup came as the Conservative heavyweights, including Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis, united around May.

The top Tories took a pragmatic stance, they wanted to avoid another messy leadership election and prevent Corbyn from entering Number 10.

But May would have to pay for her power and soon Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, her co-chiefs-of-staff, resigned. May would limp on, conduct a very minor reshuffle of her cabinet, which saw Gove brought back in government as environment secretary, and open the Brexit talks with the EU. But the question still persists: how long can she stay in Number 10 for?