LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May sought to complete a government shake-up on Tuesday without further blunders after a first day marred by farce and the refusal of some ministers to move.

Senior members of her Conservative party joined newspaper commentators in condemning the chaotic reshuffle of senior ministers on Monday, which was due to be followed by a reorganisation of the junior ranks on Tuesday.

Junior trade minister Mark Garnier was the first to go, tweeting that he was “very sad to have lost my job” but would support the government from the backbenches of the House of Commons.

Garnier was subject to an internal investigation late last year after asking his then secretary to buy sex toys, but was cleared of misconduct.

The reshuffle was intended to “refresh” May’s team after a torrid 2017, when she called a snap election only to lose her parliamentary majority, and in which three of her senior ministers were forced to resign in scandals.

It was also briefed as an attempt to introduce new faces into the government, including more women, ethnic minorities and some newer MPs.

New Conservative chairman Brandon Lewis said there would be a “really good breath of fresh air coming in” among the lower ministerial ranks.

After a chaotic start, May is under pressure to be more decisive.

“I don’t mean to be rude or to be seen to be disloyal but there needs to be a major improvement to the reshuffle tomorrow,” tweeted senior Conservative lawmaker Nicholas Soames on Monday night.

A commentator in The Times newspaper added: “An event that could have been used to clarify the direction of the government after a difficult few months served only to highlight the incoherence at No.10.”

Most senior ministers stayed in their posts on Monday, with some defying May’s attempts to move them.

Education Secretary Justine Greening resigned rather than be transferred to the welfare and pensions department, while Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt also reportedly refused to leave and stayed in his post.

May’s Conservative party meanwhile was widely mocked for wrongly tweeting the name of a new chairman, only to delete it and later announce Lewis to the job.

“The first rule of a shuffle is that it must leave the party leader at least as strong when it ends as when it started. It has been spectacularly broken so far,” wrote the editor of the news website ConservativeHome.

The second day of the reshuffle got off to a bad start, when a government-appointed member of the universities regulator resigned following criticism in parliament over past comments he made against women, gay and disabled people.

Toby Young, whose appointment had been defended by senior ministers, said his position had “become a distraction” for the work of the Office for Students.

Aides had long said Monday’s moves were less important that those planned for Tuesday, when May is expected to promote lawmakers to junior positions in preparation of a wider reshuffle after Brexit.

“Today I expect the rest of the picture to show that it’s more about preparing the ground for a post-Brexit reshuffle at a senior level,” Crispin Blunt, a Conservative lawmaker, said.