In mid-April, in the aftermath of the vote for Brexit that pushed her into power, British prime minister Theresa May and her Conservative Party enjoyed a 20-point lead over the Labour Party. Confident of her party’s unassailability, May called a snap election. She bet that the Conservatives would secure more seats in Parliament to add to its seven-seat majority, silencing critics both inside and outside her party, and allowing May to emerge with a stronger hand to negotiate Brexit.
That gamble has backfired spectacularly.
The UK woke up this morning to a hung parliament, meaning no party has a majority. The Conservatives lost the majority they had. May is saying she will not resign, but instead of being swept back into power with backing of her party and her country, she now has to figure out if she can even form a government. How, exactly, did she blow such a big lead?
