Not Waving, but Drowning

Rishi Sunak's low-energy general election announcement gave all the impression of a man who already knows he's beaten

If Rishi Sunak had hoped that his decision to call a surprise summer general election would give voters an impression of strength and confidence, it was a hope that was quickly dashed by his appearance on Downing Street.

Standing in the pouring rain, just yards away from the £2.6 million taxpayer-funded TV studio built specifically for these occasions, the Prime Minister had all the gloomy demeanour of a regional manager bussed in to announce a fresh wave of redundancies.

With the sounds of Labour anthem “It can only get better” half-drowning him out, Sunak’s long and gloomy speech rambled from one loosely-connected subject to another, without ever alighting on the actual reason he was calling the election.

So why has he called it? And what does that decision tell us about what the result is likely to be in just six weeks time?