Why did Sunak call an election now?

[Dollenganger333]

I’ve just seen one commentator say that he was expecting his own party to oust him and he therefore called an election to save face.

Worth pointing out as well that they've been racking up regular byelection losses. There probably isn't an option that doesn't involve the Tories going in on the back of some embarrassing recent defeat.

He knows they’ll lose. He’s almost certainly intending to leave politics at the earliest opportunity, so why drag it out? It also arguable that he doesn’t really have control of his party.

MPs can and have stood down during a campaign though. I think the Tories are looking for candidates for around 100 seats.

Hell, who cares?! Let's just be thankful that we are being given the opportunity to ditch this amoral shower.

They only had to be every 5 years for a brief period of time. The fixed parliament act was only in place from 2011 to 2022.

He’s not enjoying it, he’s had enough, they’re going to lose so why not have the summer off if it’s doomed anyway?

I thought they still have to be held at least every 5 years. The fixed parliament act was to stop them being held sooner without certain agreements. Because the Lib Dem’s didn’t want to enter into a coalition then get dumped as soon as the Tories thought they could win outright.

Perhaps:
Nigel Farage is busy in the USA
Labour Muslim voters wound up about Gaza so voting green
Rishi Sunak wants a decent summer holiday which in all likelihood he will get, but I just remember waking up in 1992 to find John Major still as OM so who knows

They kept hoping for a miracle that did not come.
”oh look, inflation is coming down!” is the closest they have, because they think people think that means prices coming down.

VONC. US job offer and wants to get his kids in school for the new academic year.

The choice wasn’t great..

• School holidays from mid July (England and Wales only) to September: AVOID as campaigners and voters away.
• October onwards: peak US elections culminating in vote on 5th Nov: AVOID as their ugly could become our ugly: immigration, women’s rights, Middle East
• Also unwritten rule that the security partners don’t all have votes at the same time - Russia/China would have a field day
• So that leaves Nov/Dec when people are campaigning in the dark and cold.

He banked a couple of “wins” recently: Austrian PM love in on Rwanda, the letters the 15 EU leaders wrote on immigration control, inflation..
He also knows it’ll be a miracle if any planes leave to Rwanda by Sept.
Et voilà.

He's a fucking moron.
Probably meant to call an electrician.

Since 2022 it has gone back to how it was pre 2011, that there is a maximum of 5 years. For the period of the fixed parliament act there was actually a set date 5 years after the previous election.

It suits the party in charge more to have the option to go earlier because they can pick a time when they think they have more chance of winning. I'm pretty sure that's not why Rishi has gone for an earlier election!

Multiple reasons.

good weather gets all the old Tory voters out.
interst rates will fall
hes good news on the energy caps etc
can show nhs waiting lists are dropping
starmer was forced to come clean and say he wasn’t doing nearly all of his pledges,
and demonstratably has no plan to replace those pledges other than it seems he might put uni fees up.

it was as good a time as any, as sunak could prove some good news and caught labour on the hop.

I think that he knows about another high profile failure and/or big scandal that would come out over the summer, so better go now before it gets worse.

Also, over the course of his life, he’s not used to failure and he doesn’t know how to handle how badly things have gone within himself.

It's an interesting one with Scotland taken into account though - turn out will definitely be down as it's the school holidays.

And further - he has the option to say ' vote for us or the flights won't ever take off' appealing to the type of voter that thinks the absolute shit show of the Rwanda policy is a good idea. It won't work, but I think it will get them a few more votes. Puke.
I think Suella Braverman was probably trying to oust him. He's off to 'Murrica' with the kids.

I don't think Labour were caught on the hop. Sunak's own MPs were though!

People can get postal votes.

I am working on the theory that Sunak was told that Tory MPs were sending in letters of no confidence and another leadership election was inevitable.

It might not even have been him that was worried. The Conservative party has a long and successful history of winning power. There will be senior Tories who know that the party already looks like a joke, with five different leaders in the last eight years including one who was basically a competition winner, and they will want to salvage as much of its reputation as possible.

Those people know not to insult the public's intelligence by putting up a new leader just for the election. Incompetence can eventually be forgiven, but not blatant trolling.

A realisation that the longer they hold on the better Labours call for change sounds

A realisation that even if inflation drops a little more it’s not making a difference or big enough impact

Labour’s announcement of proposals wasn’t so positively received last week as they may have feared

I think knowing Reform is not as organised as they might be a few months the down the line was for them a smart move

I think knowing Reform is not as organised as they might be a few months the down the line was for them a smart move.

I don't think Reform will be as big a deal as people make out. The various hard-right parties over the last couple of decades have only really done well when Farage is captaining them.

And even then they've failed hard under FPTP. Farage has a phenomenal losing streak when it comes to Westminster.

Why are tories resigning, is it to pressure sunack to go?

Suspect he’s asked them to resign, it’s the unpopular ones, so he can bring in fresh blood.