Does May’s U-turn matter?

Is the lack of a credible opposition allowing Theresa May too much room to make about-turns, asks Alex Rankine.

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Jeremy Corbyn: not even capable of effective opposition
(Image credit: Copyright (c) 2017 Rex Features. No use without permission.)

Theresa May's six years at the Home Office mean that she sounds authoritative on "the life-and-death matters of crime, terror and espionage", says Janan Ganesh in the Financial Times. But the prime minister shows nervousness when dealing with other policy areas. Her U-turn over social care raises questions about her government's habit of miscalculating and underpreparing. "Colleagues who defended her proposal in public, lobby interests who fought it and any EU negotiators tuning in from the continent will infer the same lesson: this prime minister is strong and stable, until you test her."

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.