There are occasions when governments — even those that appear long in the tooth — still have the capability and fight to win from behind. A cursory glance at 20th-century British political history suggests that, much of the time, and practically whatever the prevailing conditions, the Tories find a way to stay in power.
But there are also moments when there is nothing any incumbent leader or party can do, when there is a sea change in politics. Jim Callaghan could sense it. In 1979, the then prime minister reflected that, at a certain point, “it then does not matter what you say or what you do. There is a shift in what the public wants and what it approves of.”
