Leaders | Britain’s zombie leadership

Theresa May should clear out her cabinet

A purge would reanimate Britain’s weak and stable government

ONLY six months ago Theresa May seemed all-powerful. Yet the snap election that was supposed to deliver a landslide for the Conservatives instead took away their majority, and with it every shred of the prime minister’s authority. The minority government is paralysed: it lacks the numbers to get anything meaningful through Parliament; the cabinet is unable to agree on anything, or to disguise the fact; and the party is terrified of ousting its feeble leader, lest the subsequent civil war let in the newly rampant Labour Party.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Clear out the cabinet”

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