Extensive vetting and a battlebus: Labour ready to hit campaign trail

Angela Rayner is expected to make stops at dozens of marginal constituencies and will be joined by Keir Starmer for specific events. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

For Rishi Sunak, one of the advantages of calling a summer election was the idea of catching Labour off-guard.

When the prime minister announced he was going to the country on 4 July, he caught almost everyone – Labour and Tory – by surprise. Labour had just relaxed its restrictions on staff members taking holidays over the coming weeks as the prospect of an election before the autumn appeared to fade.