May's for turning

Jason Moore23/05/2017 00:00

If Theresa May conducts the Brexit negotiations like she is running the Conservative Party election campaign then will the last person to leave Britain please turn the light off. The so-called "dementia tax" is not only wrong it targets an issue which many Conservative voters feel very strongly about. May has scored a spectacular own goal and it could cost her dearly. She is lucky that she is not facing a capable Labour leader but even Jeremy Corbyn appears to have struck a chord with certain sections of the electorate.

The PM had an open goal to score a commanding majority in this election. Labour were deeply divided, UKIP all but disappeared and the Liberal Democrats were going nowhere. Even the Scottish nationalists were under pressure. But all of a sudden the Conservatives no longer have a commanding lead in the opinion polls and May's election pledge of strong and clear government appears to have been lost in yet another U-turn. The PM has often been dubbed the new Margaret Thatcher, but no. Thatcher once said "you turn if you like but this lady is not for turning", and May has been forced to turn at a vital moment.

Now, no one doubts that May will not go on and win the election but she needs a massive majority. If she wins by a few seats then the whole exercise will have been a complete waste of time and she may find herself in the same position as Thatcher did ... in her final weeks.