The Conservative party doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to early elections — MPs are still scarred by Theresa May losing the Tory majority after going for a snap poll in 2017. But that hasn’t stopped talk of an early election building in recent weeks. This isn’t about a vote tomorrow or next month but instead whether Johnson opts to go to the polls in 2023 rather than 2024.
There are compelling reasons that could tempt Johnson to go early
The conventional wisdom is that Johnson won’t even consider going early — he’s already lost too much time to Covid and needs to deliver on levelling up. Meanwhile, few expect the government to win a bigger majority than the one it currently enjoys — so why rush? The Prime Minister himself has repeatedly played down the idea of an early election and his ministers also stick to this line even in private.
So, why are hacks and MPs once again talking about it? In the reshuffle, it was notable that the new Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden kicked off his time in CCHQ by telling staff: ‘You can’t fatten a pig on market day.
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