Talk of an early election has been on the rise in recent months as the Brexit arithmetic has looked increasingly shaky. This week it has hit fever pitch. Boris Johnson announcing extra funds for the NHS has been read as a sign the party is getting campaign ready while party chairman James Cleverly set the cat among the pigeons at the weekend after he used a broadcast interview to say only that the Tories would not ‘initiate’ a general election. The verdict: an early election is beginning to be seen as inevitable.
On Radio 4’s Westminster Hour on Sunday night, Conservative MP Tim Loughton said that even if the Tories avoided one before October 31st, he thought there would be one soon after: ‘What ever happens for Brexit ahead of October 31st, I think there’s going to have to be an election at some stage after that because Boris [Johnson] has got a wafer thin majority and if we can get through Brexit we need to have a government able to get legislation through’.
But what of an election before October 31st? It’s not what this current government would like – but it is a scenario they are preparing for.
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