Theresa May is over the first hurdle of the election campaign, I say in The Sun today. There has been no public backlash to her going back on her word and opting for an early election after all. It has not done the damage to the May brand that I thought it risked.
This is testament to how popular she is. In an anti-politics age, where voters are quick to think the worst of politicians, she has been allowed to change her mind. Ministers marvel at how she has got away with such a flagrant u-turn. ‘If I had tried that, I never would have heard the end of it’, remarks one senior minister.
With this hurdle cleared, the path is now clear for May to try and use this election to realign British politics. But May also wants to use it to free herself of the constraints of the 2015 manifesto—which as one Downing Street source complained to me contains six hundred plus pledges, including one about polar bears.
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