SUNAK STUNS BRITONS WITH SURPRISE JULY 4 SNAP GENERAL ELECTION AMID TORY FURY
By SHAMLAL PURI in London
Senior Editor – UK and Associate Publisher
After months of procrastination, Rishi Sunak rolled the dice on Wednesday at 5.18 pm, taking a huge gamble to announce the General Election date: July 4, stunning Westminster and catching the country off-guard.
An angry group of his Tory Party members are trying to get Sunak to call off the elections, including a no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister.
Standing outside 10 Downing Street in a light summer drizzle, Sunak fired the starting gun for the mother of all elections in the UK.
The country sighed with relief as Mr Sunak, announcing the election date, said in a carefully crafted speech, “Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future.”
Critics are asking why Sunak chose to call a snap election rather than hold back until the middle of December when his Government’s five-year term in office ends.
His supporters give five reasons for his decision to go to polls, and they are the cause of optimism for Sunak and the Tory Party and others to extricate the current Government from the quagmire of recent economic issues that have derailed his administration’s confidence and plunged it into the negative public opinion.
Mr Sunak was buoyed by the good news on the fall of inflation to 2.3 per cent, after peaking to 11 per cent at its highest in October 2022 when he stepped into Downing Street as the third Prime Minister in that year.
He may have been tempted to use the good news as a launching pad for the Government’s message that its plan is working, adding that this was the moment for Britain to choose its future, or to add the unspoken words, this was the moment for the Conservatives to renew its mandate for five more years in Government until 2029.
This was seen as a bid to woo voters at the ballot box.
The drop in inflation is viewed as positive among some observers. Others believe the inflation is down, but the numbers are not as good as economists had expected.
His public relations plan is to woo voters with the message that the economy has turned the corner after months of turmoil may not hold for many Britons.
But Mr Sunak lumbered with many more problems during his time on Downing Street and the time of his two predecessors – Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
He inherited some of these problems from the previous two prime ministers in 2022.
The fall in inflation may be good news for the Government; the crucial point to be considered is that it has no money to offer sweeteners to the public, such as cutting taxes. This is scuppered by larger-than-expected borrowing in April.
To put this into proper context, figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show there is a gap between government income and spending in April – a whopping £1.2 billion more than the forecast by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), far above the expectations of economists.
One of the crucial points is that with the call for general elections, Rishi Sunak may avoid a summer of small boats carrying migrants, a question that’s still troubling human rights bodies.
This is one of the key five pledges to stop the small boats from Europe across the English Channel to the British shores, which have gone through challenging waters.
After spending millions of pounds in formulating and getting the Rwanda Asylum Policy in place, it seems the Prime Minister is worn out in the big fight to stop these illegal immigrants who keep on coming to Britain.
The call to a July general election could, in all possibility, give the government breathing space for a few months to avoid executing this policy.
As the Labour Party has claimed, the Rwanda Asylum policy could be dumped if the Tories lose the election.
Mr Sunak could find an escape route to extricate himself from the mess that has cost the Government millions of Pounds in payments to Rwanda, where those rejected for admission to the UK would be deported.
Sunak has made several announcements about the Rwanda flights carrying illegal migrants to Rwanda, but each time, he is thwarted by events, now this General Election.
As expected, he is still defiant that the stalled Rwanda flights will start on the other side of the election, assuming his Government returns to power.
Some sections of the UK voters may prefer to vote for the Tories, but these are steadily dwindling.
The continuing polls indicating the Conservative Party is at its lowest ebb of popularity in the country have wiped the smile off Sunak’s.
People are demanding a change.
One of the reasons for or against calling the election is the polls are not moving in favour of the Tories.
The opposition Labour Party is in a pole position in popularity stakes with as much as a 21-point lead, according to Politico’s poll of the polls.
Sunak supporters believe it may be better to get over the worst and focus on boosting the Party in opposition. That would be like falling from grace because, for many people, the time is up for Tories after 14 years in power.
Hope against hope, a section of Sunak’s supporters has also thought that the Prime Minister should hold on until at least December 2024, when the five-year Conservative Party mandate ends in the belief that something may come along by some stroke of luck the Party’s fortune could turn around.
Tory Party critics think Sunak has spent more time devoting his energies to the Rwanda Asylum Plan at the cost of other critical issues.
The main base of Tory voters is older and more rural-oriented than the opposition Labour, which has a more substantial base in the urban areas and diaspora communities.
Sunak may also think it is better to go to the polls in the summer than in the bitter winter because fewer party activists would step out in that weather to canvass votes.
There is also the question of the winter of discontent when the National Health Service would be under maximum pressure during the winter crisis.
Britons waiting to be seen and the lengthy delays at the hospitals giving creaking service would lead to anger against the Government for failing to beef up the health care system, consequently losing the Tories more votes.
What ails the Tory government?
Many Britons, particularly those who follow the progress of this Government, are convinced the Conservatives have failed to deliver, though Mr Sunak may disagree.
The UK could be ready to bid farewell to 14 years of Conservative rule that saw five prime ministers, four general elections, and several referendums that caused significant turbulence, including the volatile Brexit, which has cost the British economy billions of Pounds.
Critics also refer to several scandals during the Conservative rule, including the infamous Partygate during the Covid-19 pandemic when the Prime Minister in Downing Street (Boris Johnson administration) hosted a party breaking their own rules set for the rest of the country.
The Government mishandled many economic issues, botched up the revitalisation of the National Health Service, depriving it of much-needed funds, caused the lockdowns, which critics now say were unnecessary, and caused innumerable strikes by public sector workers seeking better pay.
At the same time, the Government of the day merely put up its hands, saying it had no money to give striking nurses, doctors, and public sector workers.
The shocking PPE Medpro scandal led to Michelle Georgina Mone, Baroness Mone, OBE, a Scottish businesswoman and life peer, admitting her links to the company that made big profits from a Government contract after her earlier denial of links to that company, stunning many ordinary Britons.
There were internal disputes in the Government. People have not forgotten how former Home Secretary Suella Braverman was shown the door and her continued aggressive opposition to her leader, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
There was also the involvement of senior Ministers such as Nadhim Zahawi, the former Chancellor and one-time Tory Party chairman, and his tax evasion issue and subsequent resignation rattling the opinion of many traditionally loyal Conservative voters.
The cost-of-living crisis has taken a heavy toll on the grassroots; every sector of the economy is going through turbulent times.
In the coming months, there are possibilities of more mismanagement issues and scandals in the Government.
Knowing their game is over, rather than getting humiliated, Tories are choosing to step down rather than get defeated.
There is a spate of resignations and defections, leaving the Conservatives weaker.
An increasing number of top Conservative MPs – 80 – so far, have stepped down this year. They include former Prime Minister Mrs Theresa May, former Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, Nadhim Zahawi, Sajid Javid, and the controversial Kwasi Kwarteng, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the short-lived Liz Truss Government in 2022 and Alok Sharma among many others.
Former Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke crossed the floor to Labour. Her colleagues Dan Poulter and Christian Wakeford also defected to Labour.
Philip Lee left the Conservatives to join the Liberal Democrats, the UK’s third most influential political Party.
Thirty-nine MPs have left or been removed in the current parliamentary term. Official figures show that 120 MPs, including 80 from the Conservative Party, and the remainder from other parties, have stepped down and will not stand for re-election.
With sure signs of a crushing defeat in the polls, more Tory MPs could jump ship before July 4.
Rishi Sunak has found himself in a very odd position, but to fight, he must go on.
He indicated a possibility of a hung parliament in which no single party has the majority. Observers scoffed at the idea, calling it a pipe dream rather than a reality.
The Liberal Democrats, the partners in a hung parliament, have categorically stated that they would not consider partnering with the current Government in any such arrangement.
The fight now is between Risha Sunak for the Conservatives and Sir Keir Starmer for the opposition Labour.
Voters are thinking of these top two but dull candidates. None of them have anything powerful to offer.
Labour thinks they are the government waiting. The Conservatives are hoping they can return to Downing Street.
This is not to suggest that one party is better than the other. Labour is not short of its eccentricities, fallacies and past mistakes.
Delivering his election announcement speech on Wednesday, Sunak hoped that in these uncertain times, his record “shows that we have a plan and are prepared to take bold action necessary for our country to flourish”.
In the last five years, our country has fought through the most challenging times since the Second World War.
As I stand here as your Prime Minister, I can’t help but reflect that my first proper introduction to you was just over four years ago.
“I stood behind one of the podiums upstairs in the building behind me. I told you that we faced a generation-defining moment and that we as a society would not be judged by some government action but by the small acts of kindness, we showed one another.
“And when I introduced the furlough scheme, I did so not because I saw a country simply in need of desperate help, albeit we were, but because I saw a country whose future hung in the balance.”
He went to record his personal and the Party’s successes in his years at the helm.
“I will forever do everything in my power to provide you with the strongest possible protection I can. That is my promise to you.
“I came to office, above all, to restore economic stability. Economic stability is the bedrock of any future success, whether that is rising wages and good jobs, investment in our public services, or the defence of the country. And because of our collective sacrifice and your hard work, we have reached two major milestones in delivering that stability, showing that when we work together, anything is possible.
“Our economy is now growing faster than anyone predicted, outpacing Germany, France and the United States. This morning, it was confirmed that inflation is back to normal. This means that the pressure on prices will ease, and mortgage rates will come down. This is proof that the plan and priorities I set out are working.”
All that he said was a good selling point to the public, but The public’s response to his call to support his Party remains to be seen – July 4 is not far off.
Mt Kenya Times