At the risk of repeating myself, I still don't understand why Theresa May triggered Article 50 before calling a general election purely from a politically strategically point of view. Leave might have won with only a slim majority, but, at the time, many Remainers were also in favor of at least respecting the referendum result. The Tories could have campaigned against Labour's unclear position, conveying the idea they might possibly not follow through with Brexit themselves.
I mean wasn't that the same they tried to campaign on in 2017? I don't think the scenario would have been much different. Corbyn would say that Labour respects the result and would carry through a Brexit that is good for workers. It wasn't enough for the most ardent brexiteers, but enough to calm many so they could still vote for Labour.
However, that campaign strategy might actually work a bit better now. There are more MPs in Labour talking about a second vote etc, so probably this time Labour would have a harder time in building a coalition that keeps both remainers and enough brexiteers on board. Corbyn would perhaps again have to be quite brexity, and then hope that him being the main opposition to May will mean young remainers will still vote for him over Lib Dems/Greens/not voting.
So strategically, I think it probably makes sense for the Conservatives to take another general election before Brexit Day. Being able to fight an election on being the Leave side vs. Labour Remain is probably the best option in the horizon. If Brexit is fairly settled by March 19 next year, other issues like healthcare and education should start to play a bigger role again, and Tories would probably lose if these are the topics after a decade of austerity and cuts. It is of course risky to hold a new election so quickly, when you could potentially govern until 2022 otherwise, but it could give them the muchwanted majority. And perhaps the best option for May to stay as PM? The only way to redeem her horrible election result in 2017, would be to get a win in a new election.
