, Columnist
Theresa May's Biggest Mistake
U.K. voters threw out the script. Let that be a lesson.
Ouch.
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It's happened again: The leader of a mainstream party was given favorable election odds, ran a poor campaign, got trounced on social media and was taught a painful lesson by voters. It's tempting to ask if they'll ever learn.
Theresa May, the U.K. prime minister, is known as a careful plodder, more technocrat and master-of-the-brief than glad-hander. But she took the biggest gamble possible in politics: She called an election she didn't have to call in a bid to increase her governing majority. David Cameron did something similar in deciding to put Britain's membership in the European Union up for a vote last year. Both thought victory was assured and both were punished for their hubris.