James Kirkup James Kirkup

Neither May nor Corbyn will fight the next election

I’ve been arguing since June that it is at least possible that Theresa May could remain in office longer than the Westminster village consensus dictated, so I’m not too surprised by her statement of intent in Japan. Besides, what else could she say?

Like most people, I still don’t expect her to fight the next election, but if she does manage the sort of transformative dogged resurrection I wrote about in June, it could just be possible. For now though, what will hold her in place will be not so much her own talents (whatever they may be) but her party’s fear of confronting the huge and possibly existential questions that will come with the choice of a new leader.

But while we are pondering on future leadership issues, here is another question that should be asked: Will Jeremy Corbyn lead Labour into the next general election?

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