Bagehot | Much ado about nothing

摘要

THE BRITISH are all aflutter about an election which shouldn't really be happening: the contest for 73 seats in the European Parliament, due on May 23rd. Change UK, a newly born pro-Remain party, has unveiled a list of candidates that includes Boris Johnson's sister, Rachel. Nigel Farage, who has abandoned the uk Independence Party (UKIP) to set up a new Brexit Party, is once again striding the political stage. The Conservatives' poll numbers are in free-fall. Labour is coming under ever greater pressure from its supporters to come out unambiguously for Remain. Along with excitement, the election is generating a frenzy of speculation about the coming shape of British politics. Is the Conservative Party in for such a drubbing that Theresa May's government will fall? Does the implosion of the Conservatives in the poll prove that the party's future lies with embracing Brexit and Boris Johnson? Will the election break the mould of the country's two-party system? And will it act as a sort of soft referendum that will demonstrate that Britain wants to leave without a deal or that it wants to call the whole thing off? The Times says the election is "shaping up to be a moment of profound political importance".