Rumors had been circulating in the corridors of the Westminster Parliament for months: the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was not ruling out early elections, before the final deadline of January 2025.
A summer vote instead of a meeting expected in the fall or this winter? The journalists only half believed it given the twenty points behind the Conservatives in the polls over Labor. The 44-year-old Tory leader appeared to put an end to speculation recently by repeating that the election would take place “in the second part of the year”. However, on Wednesday May 22, Rishi Sunak took everyone by surprise, including his own MPs and ministers, by announcing that the vote would finally be held on July 4.
The time has come to choose between the conservatives “who have a plan” for the country, “and Labor which has none”, affirmed the Prime Minister, during a brief speech in front of 10 Downing Street, repeating at least five times, in torrential rain, that he was ready to make decisions “bold”, unlike his great rival, Keir Starmer, Labor leader. Arriving at the head of government in October 2022, Mr. Sunak stressed that he had “stabilized” the economy and promised that it would bring ” Security » to his fellow citizens in a world “always more dangerous” with the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
His entry into the campaign did not begin under the best omens: the voice of the outgoing leader was partly covered by the song Things Can Only Get Better by the Northern Irish group D:Ream, broadcast at full volume by a handful of anti-Brexit activists at the gates of Downing Street. The tune has gone down in history because it was chosen as the anthem of Labor Tony Blair’s victorious campaign in 1997…
Beyond the failed staging, it was the choice of July 4 that raised questions on Wednesday evening: why not give ourselves a little more time, hoping to close the gap compared to Labor? The bet is risky, even ” completely crazy “ judged Rory Stewart, former Tory minister of Theresa May who became a popular commentator on British politics, in a special edition of his podcast “The Rest is Politics”.
The Tories running out of ideas and energy
Did Rishi Sunak judge that he had enough arguments to assert that the country’s economy “has reached a milestone”, after the National Statistics Office announced on Wednesday morning that inflation for April had fallen to 2.3% year-on-year, the lowest since 2021? The Conservative, former Chancellor of the Exchequer under Boris Johnson, had certainly made the slowdown in the rise in prices – it exceeded 11% in 2023 – one of his main objectives when he arrived at Downing Street.
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