How Sunak’s Small Circle Forged Vote Plan That Shocked Cabinet
- Premier got King’s sign-off to preempt ministers’ objections
- Aides kept secret, but couldn’t avoid rocky start to campaign
Rishi Sunak, center, greets attendees at a Conservative Party election campaign event in London on May 22.
Photographer: Jose Sarmento Matos/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Rishi Sunak gave his most senior ministers little more than an hour’s notice of what he was about to tell the country and had already told King Charles III, that he had decided to call a snap UK general election for July 4.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt was among those caught unaware. Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who’d had to cancel a visit to Albania just to make the meeting in Downing Street, expressed surprise, but said the decision “seizes the initiative, sets the agenda and forces the choice,” according to people familiar with the conversation.