Editorial
An ugly election
Tom Clark
If the only choice this winter is between Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn, quite a slice of the country will be in no mood to make it. Other parties are, of course, available. And yet despite the interminable shambles of Conservative expulsions and Labour defections, the logic of Britain’s electoral system is such that the bookmakers rate the only realistic outcomes as being the Tory incumbent’s return to No 10, or some sort of administration led by his radical socialist rival.
There is a vast and self-evident difference between the pair in some areas: on foreign policy, Johnson is set on hugging Donald Trump close whereas Corbyn has always wanted Britain to keep its distance from the US; on Brexit, where Johnson is determined to see through a pretty hard departure from Europe, Corbyn now promises a fresh referendum instead; and on taxation, where (as I show on p17) Johnson plans further giveaways for companies while Corbyn plots a serious raid on their riches.