LONDON — In British politics the familiar scenario is for the opposition to press for an early general election — there being no fixed-term provision in the very flexible British constitution — and for the government of the day to reject all such demands and sit tight.
The more unpopular the government of the day proves to be, the stronger the pressures from the opposition parties to hold an election. And of course the greater the determination of the government to avoid such a test and to hang on in the hope of better times ahead.
This is now broadly the scene at Westminster as the Labour government's ratings reach a record low level, and as intermediate elections — for local government and for seats in the remote European Parliament — demonstrated that the electorate has truly fallen out of love with Labour and prefer to stay at home rather than vote for it.