Theresa May proved in 2017 she was perfectly capable of ruling out an election until the moment when she called one. So when Whitehall mandarins discussed contingency plans for a snap poll this week, there was a sense of urgency to their talks. There is also a question of whether the Tories would let Mrs May lead the party into a snap election after her 2017 failure to win a majority and her announcement last month that she would not fight the next poll. Professor Tim Bale said: “It’s not a crazy idea, it’s a traditional port in the storm.”
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