Why is Theresa May still prime minister? Seriously, why?
The Tories have just been thrashed in the local elections and are headed for their worst defeat ever in the European elections (elections, as I’ve said before, Britain shouldn’t be partaking in). Having enraged their base by failing to deliver Brexit, they are bleeding votes to Nigel Farage’s newly founded Brexit party.
And yet, it really didn’t have to turn out like this.
The real trouble began in 2017 when Theresa May threw away the party’s parliamentary majority, only to become reliant on the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party for support. Then she repeatedly botched the negotiations with the European Union, signaling to Westminster and Brussels that they could do whatever they liked since Britain had no intention of leaving the bloc without permission. She has stubbornly clung on.
But she is the common denominator in all these woes. She is the Jonah. L’arrêt de mort.
Could the Tories make a come-back? Unlike Farage’s short-sighted Brexit party, they might try to win back voters with a renewed and clarifying commitment to Brexit while also emphasizing their domestic agenda. After all, it isn’t all bad. Employment is soaring; earlier this year unemployment was at its lowest since 1974.
But in order to deliver this hopeful message in a convincing manner, they need someone other than Theresa May to deliver it. And they need such a person now.