Quote Originally Posted by Pannonian View Post
Actually, 40% is usually enough to get one of the two main parties a majority in the UK's FPTP system, although sometimes the figure is lower (eg. Cameron's 2015 success). This is acceptable because customarily a British government does not seek to revolutionise society, but will seek a degree of consensus with the other 60%. This is what is meant by winning the centre, which the majority of the UK's population deem themselves to be. However, a combination of the polarising effects of Brexit, the Lib Dems making themselves toxic from their partnership with the Tories, and Corbyn's ineptness, has left the political landscape with no centre to speak of. In most elections, 48% would win a main party a massive majority, as that many votes would also imply another 20% or so who aren't that opposed to them, but will give them a chance to see what they make of it. In this case though, the Brexit side has told the 48% to just lump it as they've lost. This is as far from the UK's norm as it's possible to get; not even Thatcher broke with the past as decisively as May is threatening to.

Edit: See GB's post above for an example of what I'm talking about.
Your missing the point. I put "majority" in inverted commas for a reason. It doesn't matter that a 40% win is less than the 48% lose of Remain:
You only win in fptp by extending your appeal beyond the faithful.
Remain lost.
Parties that seek to win (Labour, despite Corbyn, and the Tories), can only achieve what they seek to achieve by taking majoritarian posiions even when it is outside their own sectarian interest. Blair is a classic example in wooing the middle class.
Thatcher is another in pulling in the southern working class.

The body is willing, but the mind is not. This is the Labour/Corbyn problem in a nutshell.
Even when Corbyn accepts the 52/48 result, it is because it fits with his worldview.
But he continues to talk about Palestine, and (virtual) pacifism, when these positions are thoroughly irrelevant to a useful 'majority' of the electorate.