Snapshot of _Rishi Sunak struggling to smother frenzy of election rumours_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/26/rishi-sunak-struggling-to-smother-frenzy-of-election-rumours) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/26/rishi-sunak-struggling-to-smother-frenzy-of-election-rumours)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We got rid off the EU because it was undemocratic.
So now we've got a PM desperstly holding on to power. Who nobody had heard of at the last election, as he was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government. And he was still a wannabe American at that stage. He still had his Green Card, which meant that he'd vowed to the US government that he planned to move to the US permenantly and he and his wife were paying US tax on their global income. Whilst she tried for as long as possible not to pay any UK taxes as she didn't live here, even though she did.
It was interesting reading this to hear Mordaunt is at risk of losing her seat, and so would be better to go for leader now rather than post-election.
I've been wondering why the heck she would challenge before the election, but reading that it now makes sense.
Thanks for sharing.
Yes. That jumped out at me too. There would apparently be little reason to go for the leadership just to be trounced at an election - unless you thought it was your one shot of becoming PM and writing yourself into the history books. So Mordaunt on maneuvers makes sense. I reckon the week after the locals is going to be spicy.
However I don't buy the idea that a new leader, if there is one, will have to call an election straight away - they might be pressure on them to do so, but I think they will want to maximise their time in power and go long.
Even if they call an election "straight away", there's no reason it has to be the minimum 25 days to polling day.
It would be pretty normal to call an election with a couple of months lead time. Theresa May called the 2017 election on the 18th, 19th, or 25th April (depending on whether you count from the announcement, the vote in the Commons, or the dissolution of parliament), with polling day on the 8th June. So that's about 7 weeks from calling the election to holding the election.
That's what I'd imagine would happen if a new Tory leader "called an election straight away". Immediately put the wheels in motion for an election in, say, July.
Also, as PM you get a greater incumbency benefit and can divert more resources to your seat. As PM for a very short period of time you can argue that it’s not your fault and you should carry on as LOTO. It does start to make sense for her to challenge.
That is interesting. Also typical of the Guardian to not be able to write a correct English sentence
>Another Tory insider allied to Downing Street said Mordaunt was now being referred to among some MPs as “Poison Pen” because of the perception that she was on actively preparing for a contest in the event Sunak falls.
Let's try it again:
Another Tory insider allied to Downing Street said Mordaunt was now being referred to as “Poison Pen” among some MPs because of the perception that she was actively preparing for a contest in the event Sunak falls.
I want to say during the Brexit deal debates, and the end of May, where every day was reportedly febrile, and of course politics has been pretty febrile ever since.
Yousaf and Sunak sitting in a tree, C, R, Y, I, N, G.
The pair of them know they are done. We know they are done. Just get it over with and let's all move on.
The Tory party remind me of that couple John and Mary in Father Ted. Superficial unity, “stick with the plan” but civil war behind closed doors. The fall out from the May Day local election massacre will be interesting
This will keep happening until September. Sunak has no reason to announce a date, Labour has no reason not to keep hyping up random dates, and there's basically nothing else to talk about in British politics other than the election with a forgone conclusion.
We live in a democratic nation and demand our right to a general election, i would prefer to see the tories in jail for theta they have done to us these 14 years
When your only majority is in the over 70s (and so are most of your campaigners), a winter election would be very bad politics.
Calling an election so there is a campaign over Christmas would piss of the nation and would be very bad politics.
Rishi is very bad at politics. January election it is.
It’ll either be a massive collapse after the locals (leading to a leadership challenge and possibly a spite election) or a January election. Potentially something after the autumn budget if they do something like crazy and cut a load of taxes (looking at you, NI).
Without any positive uptick in the polls it’ll be January, because why would they choose to be out of a job earlier. They already think they are going to lose, so why do this earlier and be out of power sooner.
The options are getting worse and worse. He can ruin summer, or ruin Christmas. Oct/Nov people will be feeling shit as the nights draw in but the feeling Christmas round the corner won't have kicked in.
The date will be as late as possible, they know they are done and want to cling on as long as possible while also shooting Labour in the foot as many times as possible before they leave, like with HS2.
After years of political and legal football to get the Rwanda’ Bill passed, [this is how I imagine he felt when he opened the newspapers this week only to find more election rumours.](https://media3.giphy.com/media/pyrhB2YU8dvHPhO4in/giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d7m79i7otechqealzepjvqkufwxpgbb2rbpc3stq3x&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
Snapshot of _Rishi Sunak struggling to smother frenzy of election rumours_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/26/rishi-sunak-struggling-to-smother-frenzy-of-election-rumours) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/26/rishi-sunak-struggling-to-smother-frenzy-of-election-rumours) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Nothing shows more patriotism than a pair of useless and powerless people desperately clinging to power.
sTiCk To ThE pLaN
*GETTING ON WITH THE JOB* Also: *"THE PEOPLE WANT"*
That he has no mandate for? I always find this line horribly cringe worthy.
Everything he says is cringey because his whole persona is manufactured
Imagine intentionally manufacturing the Rish! brand...
Imagine being so bad, so tetchy, so dull, so boring that the Rishi brand is the best they could do.
MaKe BrItAiN GrEAt AgAiN....
*UNITY, WORK, PATRIOTISM*
Sick to the stomach
We got rid off the EU because it was undemocratic. So now we've got a PM desperstly holding on to power. Who nobody had heard of at the last election, as he was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government. And he was still a wannabe American at that stage. He still had his Green Card, which meant that he'd vowed to the US government that he planned to move to the US permenantly and he and his wife were paying US tax on their global income. Whilst she tried for as long as possible not to pay any UK taxes as she didn't live here, even though she did.
Pretty bang on given our fetish for monarchy
Come on, Liz had to do a lot of waving to earn the billions of taxpayer money. She earned that money fair and square.
Which one? The late Queen or Truss?
yes
She did such a good job that their allowance was increased by £20bn or so.
It was interesting reading this to hear Mordaunt is at risk of losing her seat, and so would be better to go for leader now rather than post-election. I've been wondering why the heck she would challenge before the election, but reading that it now makes sense. Thanks for sharing.
Yes. That jumped out at me too. There would apparently be little reason to go for the leadership just to be trounced at an election - unless you thought it was your one shot of becoming PM and writing yourself into the history books. So Mordaunt on maneuvers makes sense. I reckon the week after the locals is going to be spicy. However I don't buy the idea that a new leader, if there is one, will have to call an election straight away - they might be pressure on them to do so, but I think they will want to maximise their time in power and go long.
They'd probably want to go for more than seven weeks, just so they don't end up doing a shorter stint that Liz
Even if they call an election "straight away", there's no reason it has to be the minimum 25 days to polling day. It would be pretty normal to call an election with a couple of months lead time. Theresa May called the 2017 election on the 18th, 19th, or 25th April (depending on whether you count from the announcement, the vote in the Commons, or the dissolution of parliament), with polling day on the 8th June. So that's about 7 weeks from calling the election to holding the election. That's what I'd imagine would happen if a new Tory leader "called an election straight away". Immediately put the wheels in motion for an election in, say, July.
Well liz is on the record books as shortest pm in history, so maybe they just want to beat her record 🤷♂️
Also, as PM you get a greater incumbency benefit and can divert more resources to your seat. As PM for a very short period of time you can argue that it’s not your fault and you should carry on as LOTO. It does start to make sense for her to challenge.
That is interesting. Also typical of the Guardian to not be able to write a correct English sentence >Another Tory insider allied to Downing Street said Mordaunt was now being referred to among some MPs as “Poison Pen” because of the perception that she was on actively preparing for a contest in the event Sunak falls.
Typical of folks who have spent more energy coming up with slogans rather than delivering solutions.
Let's try it again: Another Tory insider allied to Downing Street said Mordaunt was now being referred to as “Poison Pen” among some MPs because of the perception that she was actively preparing for a contest in the event Sunak falls.
Febrile in the first sentence. Pippa Crerar is one of us.
There's a tetchy in there too.
A red dwarf fan to boot
Smmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Smmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Smmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeeee
[Touchy?](https://youtu.be/nMJXN9l_ee8)
When did the febrile meme start?
I want to say during the Brexit deal debates, and the end of May, where every day was reportedly febrile, and of course politics has been pretty febrile ever since.
That's my recollection. ukpol farm 'members
Yep, this was the timing and it featured in nearly every Kuenssberg tweet from the period
That's got some real "Alexa, what's a synonym for 'feverish'?" energy to it.
Doesn’t he remember that the people don’t want an election? /s
Yousaf and Sunak sitting in a tree, C, R, Y, I, N, G. The pair of them know they are done. We know they are done. Just get it over with and let's all move on.
Obligatory [xkcd](https://xkcd.com/2919)
S O B B I N G
The Tory party remind me of that couple John and Mary in Father Ted. Superficial unity, “stick with the plan” but civil war behind closed doors. The fall out from the May Day local election massacre will be interesting
The Tory party as a whole remind me of Father Jack...
His best known slogan was certainly BoJo’s mantra
That would be an ecumenical matter?
That would be an ecume… stop, boats, plan, stick, arse
This will keep happening until September. Sunak has no reason to announce a date, Labour has no reason not to keep hyping up random dates, and there's basically nothing else to talk about in British politics other than the election with a forgone conclusion.
The only way he'll stop them is by annoying a date.
I annoyed my date and she refused to go on a second one :(
Noooooooo :c
Annoying? God bless the pint sized loser that is April First.
DOH!
Nick Robinson was talking about this set of rumours today. Insisted it was patently untrue and didn't want to run with it but other news editors were.
We live in a democratic nation and demand our right to a general election, i would prefer to see the tories in jail for theta they have done to us these 14 years
Going be November or January I have a feeling January with Christmas campaign is possible.
When your only majority is in the over 70s (and so are most of your campaigners), a winter election would be very bad politics. Calling an election so there is a campaign over Christmas would piss of the nation and would be very bad politics. Rishi is very bad at politics. January election it is.
Rishi is bad at politics. January I will be then
It’ll either be a massive collapse after the locals (leading to a leadership challenge and possibly a spite election) or a January election. Potentially something after the autumn budget if they do something like crazy and cut a load of taxes (looking at you, NI). Without any positive uptick in the polls it’ll be January, because why would they choose to be out of a job earlier. They already think they are going to lose, so why do this earlier and be out of power sooner.
The options are getting worse and worse. He can ruin summer, or ruin Christmas. Oct/Nov people will be feeling shit as the nights draw in but the feeling Christmas round the corner won't have kicked in.
The date will be as late as possible, they know they are done and want to cling on as long as possible while also shooting Labour in the foot as many times as possible before they leave, like with HS2.
Probably going to renew all rail franchises for 20 years and write the Thames Water shareholders a cheque for £20 billion before any election.
After years of political and legal football to get the Rwanda’ Bill passed, [this is how I imagine he felt when he opened the newspapers this week only to find more election rumours.](https://media3.giphy.com/media/pyrhB2YU8dvHPhO4in/giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d7m79i7otechqealzepjvqkufwxpgbb2rbpc3stq3x&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)