‘They believe the Labour lead is soft’: Tory MP on why Sunak called election despite huge poll deficit

Rishi Sunak has called a summer general election for July 4.

We are joined by senior Conservative MP Sir Charles Walker and look ahead to the tactics likely to shape the Tory campaign to win re-election against the odds.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: A lot of your colleagues are very upset about this and think it’s a terrible idea. What do you think?

Sir Charles Walker: Look, the prime minister picks the date and he’s picked 4 July because he thinks this is a good window to go in. I’ve fought six general elections, and once the starting gun is fired, personal enmities within your own party, ideas of what should be done within your own party, are set aside and you go in to campaign and fight mode. So I think once people leave [parliament] today and tomorrow, get back to their constituencies, it’ll be nose to the grindstone for all candidates – Labour, Conservative, SNP and the Lib Dems, and so on.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: But the assumption was that if you’re 20 points behind in the polls, it would be suicidal to call an election. Why is that a wrong assumption?

Sir Charles Walker: I’m not a strategist within Number 10 or Central Office HQ, but I imagine they see that lead, they believe and they’ve polled, that lead is a soft lead. That actually once Rishi Sunak starts setting out what he’s done for the country to get us back on an even keel, and what he’s going to do in the future and runs the line ‘This is no time for a novice. It’s a dangerous world. There’s stuff going on in the Middle East, in Eastern Europe. This is no time for a novice. We don’t know what’s going to happen in America.’

So I suspect there will be an element of Project Fear as well. They think that they can chip away at this, more than chip away, significantly reduce this current lead.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: No time for a novice was a thing Gordon Brown said when his leadership was under threat. It’s hard to argue that Keir Starmer is a novice. I think the polling sort of suggests that’s the one line that doesn’t work against him.

Sir Charles Walker: It may not be as nakedly put as that, but Rishi Sunak will say, ‘I’ve been the chancellor and prime minister for over four years. I’ve guided this country through choppy waters back to calmer waters. Stick with the captain now so I can get you to port.’

Look, Krishnan, it may or may not work, but that is going to be the campaign. It’s also a fact that a campaign is six weeks and it is gruelling. It is really hard work. And Rishi will also be banking that he’s, give or take, 20 years younger than Keir Starmer, and he’ll have more stamina to make it over the line. Look, I know no more about this than you do, but this is where I suspect the direction of travel will be and the thinking will be in Number 10 and CCHQ.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: But how confident would you be if you were actually running again?

Sir Charles Walker: If I was running again, I would be fighting the campaign and getting out there and trusting CCHQ to come up with messages, provide me with the ammunition that gives me the best chance of returning as a Conservative member of parliament.

Rishi Sunak hasn’t called a general election for 4 July because he thinks he’s going to lose it. He’s called it for 4 July because he thinks this is the best window and opportunity for him to win it. You know, politicians don’t think about losing elections. Prime ministers don’t think about losing elections. It’s within their DNA to win.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: You say that, but people are also speculating about whether he’s just accepting that losing is baked in now, and the longer he hangs on, it just kind of annoys voters. And he probably fancies a quicker exit to California.

Sir Charles Walker: But that’s the wonderful thing, isn’t it, about politics, everybody speculates and everybody has a point of view. I know Rishi Sunak, I don’t know him well, but I’ve spent some time in his company and he is an extremely competitive young man and will be going into this general election to win it. It is a six-week campaign. It is a gruelling campaign. There is no hiding place in a general election campaign for the half hearted.