A smart, calculated move

The British people may not be thrilled about returning to the polls this summer, even if elections are the hottest trend, but they have only themselves to blame. The moment they voted in favor of Brexit, they rocked the system. Prime Minister Theresa May's decision Tuesday to hold early elections is an attempt to stabilize things and give herself a chance to stay at 10 Downing Street a few years more.

Two years after the last U.K. parliamentary election and less than a year after the Brexit vote, the British prime minister is asking the people to vote once again, this time on June 8. May wants a strong base for the Conservatives and herself as head of the party. She wants to be elected prime minister, not inherit the position, as she did last July as a result of the Brexit vote. It is a move designed to strengthen her position in the difficult negotiations with the European Union that lie ahead and could continue until March 2019.

May wants to enter the negotiations in a strong position, having been given a mandate by the people ahead of the most dramatic move Europe has seen in years. This will give her leverage to pressure the EU and ensure that the next parliamentary election takes place at least two years after the negotiations on Brexit are over. It's a smart, calculated move that will also put her in a stronger position to deal with Scotland's demand for another referendum on whether to break off from the United Kingdom.

The Conservatives have a five-MP majority in Parliament -- 17 with their coalition partners -- a small majority given that some members of the coalition also oppose Brexit. May is looking around and sees that she has no opponents: Polls give her a large margin of 44% of the vote, compared to 26% for the Labour Party, which is collapsing under the leadership of Jeremy Corbin, whose assent to an early election seems to be a masochistic act.

This is no doubt a smart tactical move by May to base herself after Britain leaves the EU, a move expected to create economic waves and possibly a change in public sentiment. By pushing the next parliamentary election from 2020 to 2022, May is buying herself two more years of quiet, and putting distance between the Brexit agreement and the voting booth.

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