UK leader can make successive surprises successful

London

THERESA May has thrown caution to the wind and decided she wishes to lead Europe. The erstwhile careful campaigner to keep Britain in the European Union, who - since becoming prime minister last July - has fully espoused the "UK out" cause, has now undergone a second metamorphosis.

Her next step is to become a substantial election victor, crush the opposition Labour Party, and gain a strong mandate to steer the UK to a reasonable economic and political exit deal with the remaining EU states. The Conservative Party is an unusual 20 percentage points ahead in the polls over luckless and semi-leaderless Labour. Unless something catastrophic happens, Mrs May in June will swap her present unelected status for the prize mantle of the sole top European leader with sizeable popular backing for her policies.