May’s snap election gamble backfired... badly

This appeared in Saturday's Washington Post:

An election called to strengthen Britain's government as it prepares to negotiate its departure from the European Union has instead weakened it so much that it will be hard-pressed simply to remain in office. Prime Minister Theresa May hoped to increase the Conservative Party's majority to 100 seats or more, giving her a mandate for her relatively hardline Brexit strategy of favoring restric- tions on immigration over full membership in the EU's single market. Instead, the Conservatives lost their majority and now must depend on a small, sectarian Northern Ireland party to hold on to power. May will apparently keep the prime minister's job for now, but her ability to effectively manage what was already an enormously difficult economic and political transition has probably been crippled.

As the British media mercilessly pointed out, May, who was ahead by 20 points in polls when she called the election in April, conducted a terrible campaign, while Jeremy Corbyn, the hard-left leader of the Labour Party, ran a very good one. May was wooden on the stump, flubbed interviews and ducked debates; she appeared to be anything but the "strong and stable" leader of her campaign slogan. Corbyn held mass rallies in the style of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump at which he offered populist promises, including the abolition of university tuition and billions in new funds for the state health service.