The reason Corbyn is afraid of a general election

There is at least one person in Britain who would beat Theresa May in a contest to see how far they could kick a proverbial can down the road. Fortunately for her, it is the leader of the opposition. Why won’t he do it? Why won’t he table that motion of no confidence in Her Majesty’s government while it is bleeding by the roadside? Given a chance to deliver the coup de grace, he chooses instead to table a personal motion of no confidence in Theresa May which he knows the government can put off through lack of time, and which he knows would have no great consequences if she did lose it. No government in the past 40 years has looked quite so miserable, quite so open to being toppled by Parliament, and yet still he won’t do it.

Yet there is a very good reason for his reluctance. Corbyn might behave in a peculiar fashion by standards of other party leaders – choosing, for example, to drag up Universal Credit at Prime Minister’s Questions when May was in deep embarrassment over her Brexit deal — but he is more politically astute than many give him credit for.