Most Conservative MPs will be mightily relieved.
But Labour’s hopes of a race to the polls on 2 May by Rishi Sunak have surely been dashed.
Was a general election on 2 May – the date of local and mayoral elections – ever seriously a runner? Not really, though it remained a possibility.
The prime minister had declared that his “working assumption” was that the election would be in the second half of the year.
But until now the prime minister had refused to rule it out. Now, in the unlikely setting of a regional TV studio during a west country tour, he has done just that, it appears.
For weeks, the Labour Party has been goading Mr Sunak into holding the election on 2 May, so that when he didn’t hold it then it could accuse him of being a bottler.
But in recent days, amid a growing mood of panic among Tory MPs and talk of a new post-budget plot to remove him, there was also talk of a 2 May election among Conservatives.
Why? Two reasons. One, if the Tory backbench mavericks and malcontents who want to drive him out and change leader looked to be on the brink of succeeding, he’d go to the King and call an election, it was claimed.
Second, if a number of Tory MPs followed Lee Anderson and defected to Reform UK – as many as 10, it was claimed – he’d also go for a snap election, according to authoritative sources.
The deadline for dissolving parliament and calling for a 2 May poll is 26 March, the day the Commons rises for the Easter recess.
Although it’s still possible there could be an election in June or July, the autumn – with 14 November or 21 November the dates predicted by many MPs – remains favourite.
Which means that after Mr Sunak’s dramatic statement in a TV studio 120 miles from Westminster we’re in for another eight months of electioneering and campaigning.
A long election campaign indeed!
Source Agencies
