Tories on the defensive over policy reversals ahead of British election

WHEN British Prime Minister Theresa May called an election on April 18, people saw it as a master stroke. She had won the leadership of the Conservative party and become prime minister nine months earlier. But the majority she had inherited from David Cameron, her predecessor, was small and threatened by hard Brexiteers. A victory in the election would give her a mandate. It was easy to predict that, with the state of the Labour party and the unpopularity of its leader Jeremy Corbyn, she would increase her majority.

In the last few days, that plan has come unstuck. Mrs May has made yet another of her U-turns - this time over a manifesto commitment that would result in many elderly people paying more for their care. Mr Corbyn, meanwhile, has done unexpectedly well with his party manifesto.

With just over a fortnight until polling day, on June 8, the election has entered new territory. Latest opinion polls show that the Tory lead has halved from around 18 percentage points to 9. This brings the Tory majority in seats down to double digits, from the triple figures predicted earlier. That itself may not be a huge setback for the prime minister. But given the increasing likelihood of unlikely events - and we cannot yet tell what will be the electoral consequence (if any) of the terrorist attack in Manchester on Monday night - a closer result cannot be ruled out. A further shrinking of the Conservative vote might, under certain circumstances, bring into view a many-sided and possibly chaotic coalition of the present opposition parties, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Nationalists.