No wonder Mr Corbyn is talking so confidently about leading the next government. In the last election he was predicted to sink without trace, and instead he led the Labour Party to a quite respectable second place, taking enough seats from Mrs May that she was forced into a marriage of convenience with the DUP - paying a very stiff dowry.
Despite the disaster of the tactical snap election, which converted a wafer-thin majority into a coalition of chaos, Mrs May intends to lead the Conservatives into the next election. She has fired her advisors, she has played Shuffle-My-Cabinet, she hasn't made any recent U-turns. Is that enough to turn the tide?
Who knows. The pundits failed to predict either the referendum result or the snap election result. Were the swing voters voting for Mr Corbyn or against Mrs May? Labour Party membership is on the slide. We may have reached peak-Corbyn. Against that, it still isn't clear what Mrs May intends, not even on Brexit. Our poor negotiators have no idea. Even Mrs May seems to have no idea.
So why aren't the ambitious party hacks sharpening their knives? There was an embarrassment of choice when Mr Cameron left the leadership up for grabs. This time round, when strong and stable leadership is needed, they shuffle and look at their feet.
Still, you can hardly blame them. Who wants to be remembered as the Prime Minister who oversaw a disaster? As we stumble blindly towards the cliff edge, the time available to take back control is becoming too short. Far better to take the helm once the worst is (we hope) over, and be credited as the leader who guided us out of the maelstrom, rather than the one who led us into it.
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