UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a snap general election for July 4 in a statement outside Downing Street on Wednesday evening, as hi
Britain goes to the polls in July. If things go as expected, this July 4th will be Independence Day for TWO countries. ;)
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a snap general election for July 4 in a statement outside Downing Street on Wednesday evening, as his Conservative Party faces an uphill struggle to extend its 14 years in power. Sunak said outside Downing Street that he had informed King Charles III of the rare summer poll, firing the starting gun on a six-week campaign that is almost universally expected to conclude in the demise of his Conservative government. Soaked by a downpour as he spoke, Sunak said: “Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future.” He also attacked his opponents, saying that by voting for the Labour Party, Britain would “risk going back to square one.” But he admitted: “I cannot and will not claim that we have got everything right.” Sunak was required to hold a vote by January 2025, and had long resisted calls to be specific about his plans. But a fall in inflation rates, announced earlier Wednesday, provided the backdrop for his announcement.
Like most people, I was surprised by the timing. General elections between June 15th and September 1st have not gone well for the party in power since World War II ended.
The post VE-Day election of 05 July 1945 saw Conservative Winston Churchill himself tossed out of power.
The 18 June 1970 election was a shock defeat for Labour which was defending a strong majority in the previous Parliament.
Labour is currently leading the Conservatives by over 20 points in the polls.
Electoral Calculus last month predicted a Labour majority of 294 seats over the Conservatives. Even a best case scenario for Rishi would be 211 seats out of a total of 650 – or 115 seats short of a majority.
^^^ FYI: Because of various by-election losses and defections, the Conservatives were down to 344 seats early Wednesday from the 2019 results.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's announcement of the upcoming general election did not go very well.
Sunak, for whatever reason, decided to make the announcement outside in pouring rain and without an umbrella. By the time he finished his remarks he looked like he was wearing a wet suit.
And as he was making the announcement, everybody near the soaking Sunak could hear a loudspeaker down the street blasting Labour's 1997 theme song, "Things Can Only Get Better" by D:Ream – thanks to Steve Bray.
Various headline writers and commenters could not resist the temptation to refer to Rishi's announcement as "things can only get wetter". 🌧
This is a 3-minute Labour ad from 1997 featuring that song. (BTW: the information at the end about voting procedures is now out of date)
The '97 election turned out to be a landslide for Labour in which they won 418 seats – an increase of 146.
