If, as betting markets suggest, Britain replaces its prime minister again this year, the country will have had seven leaders in a decade. For a government elected 18 months ago on promises of stability and growth, that’s a troubling prospect. For the country’s long-suffering voters, it would be more troubling still.

Such churn signals failures of leadership selection and strategy in office. A weakened prime minister and Labour Party now face a defining choice: reassert a disciplined governing project or drift in ways that may empower Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and other extremists.

© Bloomberg