Thread 45 Sunak; Remove one letter and tell his future"

[DuncinToffee]

The discussion continues, just call a GE

Rat. Ship.

She's my next door MP and she isn't the worst, but she's a bit of a chocolate teapot.

As noted upthread, something spooked Rish!

Not idea what, but it resulted in him basically turning up yesterday morning and saying to his aides "Listen up chaps, I think I'll call the election for July 4th. Can you arrange the details".

It's telling that Hunt was on R4Today - suggesting it was too late for him to cancel and thus how close to the wire it was.

So what spooked Rish! ? Is it something domestic ? Or something wider afield that he wanted to be well clear of come the 5th ?

Hopefully some of our more tenacious journalists will be looking in the shadows.

How disrespectful

But then, that's been typical of their attitude in general

We try not to discuss on here but yes it's got worse over the years. Is sad.

Maybe the immigration figures.
The incoming border/bottled water fiasco
Mass defection of One Nation Tories to Labour
Government defeat on extremist bill and potentially no planes for Rwanda flight.
Rwandan Government have pulled out.
Some kind of water related announcement to do with cryptosporidium.
Deep state related threats from transactivist civil servants.

It is so weird. I'm sure he'll tell us in his book.

The economy?

The one Sunak inherited from a previous government where he was chancellor

They walk amoung us.

Maybe the immigration figures.
The incoming border/bottled water fiasco
Mass defection of One Nation Tories to Labour
Government defeat on extremist bill and potentially no planes for Rwanda flight.
Rwandan Government have pulled out.
Some kind of water related announcement to do with cryptosporidium.
Deep state related threats from transactivist civil servants.

None of those would explain a decision made with such haste. And one thing we certainly do know about Sunak is that he is hardly impulsive.

I could easily believe Johnson could have woken one morning and thought "what a marvellous day to announce an election". But someone as tediously cautious as Rish! ?

No, my feeling is his hand was forced. And not by his own side who wouldn't then have been so blindsided by it.

There are going to be a lot of incoming Tory candidates who can't trade on "I've worked with Rishi for years". Which may be a blessing in disguise now I come to type of it.

@SerendipityJane tbf on any assessment it will only be worse by the autumn so this is about as good as its going to get. He's acting rationally.

Why yesterday specifically...my hunch is he had hoped for a while the inflation figures wd justify going then. He's got no political acumen because people don't vote based on inflation stats, but he's so insulated by wealth he has no idea that people are mostly aware of the price of food in their shopping basket and those prices are high and staying high and there's nothing he can do about that.

In the event the inflation data was disappointing, but coupled with the fact Rwanda is never going to get in the air that means waiting till the autumn means he's gifting Labour the highest ever level of small boat crossings, high waiting lists and rising food prices as a result of border checks in time for an autumn election...

Its a perfectly sensible decision which is very out of character.

As noted upthread, something spooked Rish!

It certainly did. My money’s on something on the horizon we don’t yet know about. He was so adamant that there’d be no election before a few flights to Rwanda took off and now it seems he’s finally accepted it won’t happen. I’m intrigued.

What has Armando heard?

Reform Tice will be standing in Boston & Skegness

This vaguely reminds me of when Wilson resigned. Very first thing my DM said was "What are we going to find out ?"

As it was, sadly, we later learned his Alzheimer's was progressing and out of a sense if duty to the country he stepped down.

Helen MacNamara whatsapp from the Covid Inquiry

"This has been the most actively sexist environment I have ever worked in. I don't know quite why - but the stories I've had from women are shocking"

How is Trump's trial going? I got the impression Tories and Trump have been tied for years and I wonder if he has garnered something that suggests their bond/financial agreement/mutual interests won't be available after 4th July?

Andy Burnham will be joining Sky News election night

If Sunak didn't want to be in power in/post November then he could have called the election on May 2nd and possibly saved some seats.

Right now, if there was a theory the Rish! was the deep state plant intended to neuter the Tories for a generation, I wouldn't bet against it.

Just sticking this here for anyone that might need it -

🚨 NEW: Key deadlines for the GE on 4 July

⏲️ Register to vote: Tuesday 18 June at 23.59

⏲️ Applying for a Voter ID: Wednesday 26 June at 17:00

⏲️ Applying for a postal vote: Wednesday 19 June at 17.00

⏲️ Applying for a proxy vote: Wednesday 26 June at 17.00

x.com/politlcsuk/status/1793594551653052481?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

Update from Bienkov

So I've now identified a second hi-vis jacket-wearing man, who asked Rishi Sunak a question this morning, as local Conservative Councillor Ben Hall-Evans.

Hall-Evans was the first person to be called for a question with no mention of who he was

Fascinating. Does America actually want Garage helping them?

It would be huge for Rishi to announce he's not standing - I can't remember a time when the current PM did that.

Oh those were the days, some principals a sense of duty.

Sunak told Loose Women that he would 'of course' stay on as an MP

He wouldn't lie, would he now

US Elections - How Can Foreign Nationals Be Involved in the Political Process? - Capitol Immigration Law Group PLLC (cilawgroup.com)

I wonder what the US Immigration view would be?

😮

I would be surprised if it doesn’t come out that he was going to lose the Tory leadership or something along those lines. It’ll be something entirely self serving. Also seem to be some rumours that this was always the plan and in fact the chaos is designed to put Labour on the back foot. Thing is these decisions are always taken by a tiny group of people so it’s entirely plausible it’s been on the works and they didn’t even bother to inform the Cabinet.