May failed to get the mandate she sought

British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to cling to power although she could not take the Conservative Party to victory in a snap election that she had called, hoping to form “a strong and stable government” as Brexit negotiations begin later this month. Her calculations backfired. After the deeply disappointing result for the Tories, announced on Friday, and a surge in seats for the Opposition Labour Party, Ms May — whose authority appears greatly diminished — now says it is “incumbent” on her party to give the country “stability”. Being the first party in the House, she doubtless has the constitutional right to try to form a government.

Ms May is expected to form a minority government with the help of the Democratic Unionist Party (of Northern Ireland), which is likely to offer informal support. How stable can such a government be is anyone’s guess.

This sort of thing will be par for the course in a country like India in a situation of “hung” Parliament when the ruling party did not win outright, but seems unusual for Britain. In light of the fact that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on the Prime Minister to resign as she had sought a mandate and not got it, and has asserted that his party is ready to form the government (with the help of others), it remains to be seen if the Tories can command a majority in the House.

All the potential politics is probably not done yet. It is not known if the Tory Party in Parliament will be united on Ms May’s leadership. It is also not known if the other parties will be determined to obstruct her path, and come together to let Mr Corbyn — known to be on the left wing of Labour — lead a new government.

But there can be no question that this Labour leader is a transformed man, although observers have been dismissive of him over the years due to the politics that he espouses. Labour under him polled 40 per cent of the vote, the highest for the party since 1970, and only slightly behind Ms May’s Tories. He made up ground in the course of the campaign, closing a big gap. The polling was higher in the Thursday election than in the general election of 2015, and Labour’s startling run was fuelled by young voters.

Commentators in Britain have already begun to wonder about the possibility of a fresh election in six months. Surprisingly, Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom Independence Party, which had stridently campaigned for Brexit, on Friday called for a fresh vote on leaving Europe in light of the election result. The available indications are that the Europeans aren’t seeing it that way. But the course of politics will be watched closely.