Three strikes and you’re out.
The rules for baseball can also apply to politics. Britain’s Tory government avoided losing an unprecedented three by-elections on a single day on Thursday by a whisker, all in Conservative-held seats. For a government that must call a general election within 18 months, a wipeout would have spelled doom.
After a recount, the Conservatives held on in Boris Jonson’s vacated London seat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. An unpopular green tax on cars known as the Ultra-Low Emission Zone, extended without consultation to outer London by Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan, is widely blamed for depriving opposition leader Keir Starmer of a second thumping victory.