Once the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act was quietly repealed, Boris Johnson reclaimed for himself and his successors the power (via the monarch) to dissolve Parliament and call a general election. For better or worse, Rishi Sunak has exercised that power.
For the pedants, July 4 is just about in the second half of the year, if not quite the autumn date Sunak had previously floated. His announcement was therefore a surprise, not least because the iron rule of British politics is that prime ministers do not go to the country when they are more than 20 points behind in the opinion polls. Which prompts the question: why now?
