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British Election Was Full of Surprises From Beginning to End

Right from the start, the British election was all about the unexpected: Prime Minister Theresa May caught Britons off-guard in April when she announced an election three years before the next scheduled vote.

Mrs. May said she needed a bigger majority for her Conservative Party in Parliament to bolster her hand during negotiations with the European Union over Britain’s exit, known as Brexit, and initial polls suggested that she was well positioned to get what she wanted.

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Prime Minister Theresa May leaving 10 Downing Street on Friday for Buckingham Palace, where she met with Queen Elizabeth.Credit...Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Instead, her campaign began to falter. Mrs. May said that she alone could lead a “strong and stable” Britain, but her missteps led some critics to describe her as “weak and wobbly.”

At the same time, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour chief who was once seen as too far left to be a credible leader, found his footing on the campaign trail and staged a resurgence.

The Liberal Democrats had hoped to turn the election into essentially a do-over of the Brexit referendum, but that tactic seemed to fall flat, and the party failed to gather much steam.

The same could be said for the far-right U.K. Independence Party, which has imploded since achieving its primary goal of Britain’s leaving the European Union.

Along the way, campaigning was suspended twice to honor the victims of two terrorist attacks, one in Manchester and one in London.

But the biggest surprise came from the voters on Thursday: Mrs. May not only failed to increase her majority but lost it entirely, while Mr. Corbyn and the Labour Party picked up dozens of seats in the 650-member House of Commons.

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Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, arriving at the party’s headquarters in London on Friday.Credit...Marko Djurica/Reuters
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Members of the news media in London after the Conservatives suffered a major setback in a tumultuous election.Credit...Hannah McKay/Reuters
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Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister and the leader of the Scottish National Party, in Glasgow on Friday morning.Credit...Andy Buchanan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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Police officers watched as election officials counted ballots in Emirates Arena in Glasgow.Credit...Robert Perry/European Pressphoto Agency
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A vote-counting center at Alexandra Palace, an event hall, in London.Credit...Paul Ellis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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Exit poll results were projected on the BBC’s Broadcasting House in London.Credit...Jeff Overs/British Broadcasting Corporation, via Reuters
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A polling station in Ambleside, in northwest England.Credit...Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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Mrs. May and her husband, Philip, voted in Sonning, a village west of London.Credit...Toby Melville/Reuters
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A dog waited for its owner at a polling station in Howden, in England’s northeast.Credit...Lindsey Parnaby/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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Casting votes at a gym in Liverpool.Credit...Peter Byrne/Press Association, via Associated Press
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Mr. Corbyn, the Labour leader, at his polling place in London.Credit...Frank Augstein/Associated Press
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Nuns went to cast their ballots in Hyde Park in London.Credit...Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
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An out-of-the-ordinary polling station in Garthorpe, in central England.Credit...Joe Giddens/Press Association, via Associated Press
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A pub became a polling station in Christmas Common, near Oxford.Credit...Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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Voters leaving a polling station at a former fire station in London.Credit...Leon Neal/Getty Images
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Election officials at a laundromat in Oxford.Credit...Jonathan Brady/Press Association, via Associated Press

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