Well, she pulled it off. Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi took the bold gamble of calling a general election after just two months in office but has been rewarded with a landslide victory. Over the weekend, her Liberal Democratic party’s coalition with the JIP (Japan Innovation party) easily secured two-thirds of the 465 seats in the lower house needed to push through most bills even if the upper chamber, where Takaichi does not have a majority, tries to stop her. The contrast between her position and that of the beleaguered Sir Keir Starmer, whom she met just over a week ago in Tokyo, could hardly be starker. One is enjoying the time of her political life, the other is fighting for his.

Political analysts may study Takaichi’s snap election strategy in the hope of emulating it. She got a number of things spot on. She put herself, rather than her tired and scandal-wracked party, front and centre, always presenting a positive image, talking the country up and stressing how bright the future could be if we all just believe – in her. She has a reasonably impressive backstory but mainly let others outline it, not overdoing things in ‘son of a toolmaker’ style. She refreshingly avoided identity politics, never boring on about being a woman in a man’s world, having to work twice as hard to get half as far, etc., etc.

Takaichi is an energy realist and is about as far from woke as........

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