2 hours agoHenry Zeffman,Chief political correspondent Reuters“Labour MPs are happy. We’re not. That tells a story,” one minister fumed in my general direction as he reeled off a list of legislation he had been involved in, now headed for the shredder.That’s just one illustration of the explosive mood in Westminster on Wednesday evening as Conservative MPs reacted to Rishi Sunak’s sudden announcement of a July election with reactions ranging from enthusiasm to outrage.All of Mr Sunak’s MPs, though, were blindsided – including cabinet ministers who had no inkling of what was coming either, even being sent a fake agenda for their Wednesday afternoon meeting.Now that it’s clear that the election really is on, many Conservatives are asking each other a simple question: why? Why did Mr Sunak abruptly, as one senior Conservative put it, “confound the assumption of the entire establishment, not to mention Tory MPs, that it would be autumn – and drop this on them from a height”?It’s worth stating the obvious that this will have all felt a lot less abrupt for Mr Sunak’s tight inner circle. Among the prime minister’s confidants, a lively debate has been raging for months about when the general election should take place. Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister and Mr Sunak’s closest friend in the Commons, is understood to have been arguing for some time for an early election, along with Liam Booth-Smith, the prime minister’s chief of staff.On the other side of the argument, according to multiple sources, was Isaac Levido – the man now charged with running the summer general election campaign he advised against. Mr Levido is an Australian elections guru who also ran Boris Johnson’s successful 2019 general election campaign, having learnt his trade under the wing of Sir Lynton Crosby, mastermind of Lord Cameron’s election victories.This is strongly denied by the Conservatives and, this morning, by Mr Sunak himself, who told LBC it was “not true” that Mr Levido argued against the July date.The balance of the argument is understood to have been drifting towards a summer election for some time. James Nation, a former Treasury civil servant who is Mr Sunak’ …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn2 hours agoHenry Zeffman,Chief political correspondent Reuters“Labour MPs are happy. We’re not. That tells a story,” one minister fumed in my general direction as he reeled off a list of legislation he had been involved in, now headed for the shredder.That’s just one illustration of the explosive mood in Westminster on Wednesday evening as Conservative MPs reacted to Rishi Sunak’s sudden announcement of a July election with reactions ranging from enthusiasm to outrage.All of Mr Sunak’s MPs, though, were blindsided – including cabinet ministers who had no inkling of what was coming either, even being sent a fake agenda for their Wednesday afternoon meeting.Now that it’s clear that the election really is on, many Conservatives are asking each other a simple question: why? Why did Mr Sunak abruptly, as one senior Conservative put it, “confound the assumption of the entire establishment, not to mention Tory MPs, that it would be autumn – and drop this on them from a height”?It’s worth stating the obvious that this will have all felt a lot less abrupt for Mr Sunak’s tight inner circle. Among the prime minister’s confidants, a lively debate has been raging for months about when the general election should take place. Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister and Mr Sunak’s closest friend in the Commons, is understood to have been arguing for some time for an early election, along with Liam Booth-Smith, the prime minister’s chief of staff.On the other side of the argument, according to multiple sources, was Isaac Levido – the man now charged with running the summer general election campaign he advised against. Mr Levido is an Australian elections guru who also ran Boris Johnson’s successful 2019 general election campaign, having learnt his trade under the wing of Sir Lynton Crosby, mastermind of Lord Cameron’s election victories.This is strongly denied by the Conservatives and, this morning, by Mr Sunak himself, who told LBC it was “not true” that Mr Levido argued against the July date.The balance of the argument is understood to have been drifting towards a summer election for some time. James Nation, a former Treasury civil servant who is Mr Sunak’ …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
