In a move which surprised just about everyone or indeed no-one, depending on who you happen to be listening to at the time, the election called by British Prime Minister Teresa May is either unexpected or had its time coming. At any rate, the sceptered isle goes to the polls in June provided the election is agreed to by the Parliament. The chances of it being agreed to are pretty high because the party in government wants to reset the clock and give itself five years to sort out the mess with Brexit and the party in opposition wants to become the government as is the want of every party in opposition ever.
Therein lies the entire reason why this election has been called. Teresa May got job after David Cameron made a stupid promise to hold a referendum on leaving the European Union, to which the majority of older people in the UK agreed to but the younger portion of the population didn't, was surprised when the referendum passed, and left in one of the biggest hissy fits in British political history. Ms May became leader of a party so vexed with Brexit in that it is like the mule with a spinning wheel (nobody knows how it got it and danged if it knows how to use it), and now has the problem of working out how to untangle the UK from the EU.
On the other side of the divide, Britain now faces the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister, which depending on your point of view is either an InterCity 225 trip to Socialism On-The-Wold provided that a snowflake doesn't fall upon the railway tracks, or a return to a kinder and lovelier Britain which will that portion of the public hopes will undo everything that Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron and May have done. Corbyn who is preferred by the rank and file of the Labour Party has a problem when it comes to the elected members in the parliament and so if he does end up moving into Number Ten, who knows what sort of cabinet would be appointed; if indeed he survives as leader long enough to be PM.
As for the other parties, the Liberal Democrats... ah ha ha ha. They suffered electoral wipeout in 2015 for forming a coalition government with the Tories in 2010 and promptly did a spinectomy on themselves. The British public rewarded them with a seatectomy as well.
Their current caucus in parliament consists of four blokes named Brian and a dog called Kevin who is hoping for a spot on the Board Of Trade.
North of the border I expect that the Scottish National Party will again claim virtually every seat in Scotland and Northern Ireland will again return its usual half dozen wingnuts, fruit loops and Sinn Fein members who hate the UK.
This is my prediction for the upcoming election: Who the deuce knows? Any combination of either the Tories or Labour winning outright, or needing to form a coalition with the SNP, or the Liberal Democrats if they make a comeback, or even the Greens if they manage to win a few seats, is possible. Seriously, paint a monkey in glue and cover him in marbles and see where they fall off and you'd have a more reliable indicator of what is likely to happen than the pundits do. A crapshoot is more predictable than this upcoming election because dice follow rules of probability, whereas the British public are like brainless sheep running from side to side, being ridden by headless chickens who are wearing grenades with the pin taken out as backpacks.
For all I know, Larry The Cat will be the next Prime Minister.
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