It’s the 9th of June and we here in Britain have woken up to [genuine] surprise, surprise…a hung Parliament!
There’s no denying that the days leading up to today’s hung Parliament have certainly been iconic- almost like watching House of Cards in real time. And although Theresa May’s confession of running through a field of wheat (presumably at night cause that’ll be more fun) certainly wasn’t the same as watching Francis hurl Zoe Barnes in front of a speeding train, or Blair’s ‘Do It’ political broadcast; finding out our beloved Prime Minister was a boisterous youth did make for an entertaining campaign trail.
Minimal public appearances. Refusal to show up to debates. And online targeting of undecided voters-which in my opinion was a blatant copy of the Pollyhop scandal in House of Cards season 4. It’s safe to say that Theresa May run her election campaign with the same dramatics as Democrat-by-name-Republican-in-nature, Francis J. Underwood. But while Mrs May dramatics were enough to earn her a nod from Frank and Claire Underwood, today’s hung Parliament show that she was nowhere near as successful as the Underwoods when they got President Walker impeached. I believe the colloquial term used to describe Mrs May’s decision is
“flopped”. Theresa May flopped!
Or did she?
One can only speculate but if Theresa May drew inspiration from Frank Underwood’s campaigning tactics then whatever looks like a defeat, isn’t actually one. The hung Parliament outcome is exactly the same as Francis Underwood resigning his presidency in exchange for greater power. A classic example of losing a battle to win a war.
More so, you don’t stay Home Secretary for 6 years by taking unnecessary risks. You don’t stay a Conservative by taking unnecessary risks! It goes against the party mantra of doing only what is tried and tested. The decision to call a snap election was an unnecessary risk and very out of character. There was no reason to put the 2015 majority-no matter how slim- on the line for the sake of some “stronger mandate”. The only possible reason for doing so was that the stress of Brexit was getting to poor old May and so she was counting on Tory defeat (or a hung Parliament) so she could happily resign and spend the rest of her days running through fields of wheat. As of 7:45am [UK time], Theresa May made it clear that she will not be resigning so that theory unfortunately withers away like the UK Independence Party.
The question now remains, what card does poor old May have left to play? Well she called a snap election to get a stronger mandate. She hasn’t got one. So the way I see it, she is well within her right to call another election. The problem with that is by the time a 3rd election takes place it’ll be 12th of June. Brexit negotiations would’ve already begun. All Mrs May will have to do, come a third is election, is exactly the same thing she did this campaign run: Online targeting of undecided voters. Minimal public appearances. And refuse to be drawn into debate, only this time she has ace up her sleeve…Brexit negotiations. Simply argue that a change in negotiating teams would be disastrous for negotiations and leave us with bad Brexit deal. In other words
“vote for me if you want a smooth exit from the European Union”.
Of course this is all mere speculation, There is no way of knowing that this was what Theresa had planned all along, if she’ll call another election, if it is her best hand to play or if using Brexit negotiations as an argument in a third election will play to the Tories favour.
One thing’s for certain, if I were Mrs May-which unfortunately I am not- I wouldn’t be thinking about running through a field of wheat right now. I would ask myself: What would Frank Underwood do? The answer Mrs May, is very simple:
“Overpower this trickle of doubt, with a flood of naked truth”
Kaf's Korner 