Election 2024: Drenched Rishi Sunak calls for vote in July

Rishi Sunak stood in the pouring rain outside No. 10 Downing Street, and taking everyone by surprise, called a summer general election for July 4th.
It's a massive gamble - the prime minister’s Conservative party is 20 points behind in the polls, every expert predicts a Labour victory and scores of Tory MPs are quitting their jobs, not even bothering to stand.
But inflation is down, he's on course to get the first Rwanda flights full of asylum seekers in the air soon, Nigel Farage hasn't got himself organised yet and Labour were not expecting this now.
So pitching himself as the safe option in a dangerous world Rishi Sunak said he will fight for every vote. Keir Starmer told voters this is their opportunity to stop the chaos and rebuild Britain.
Welcome to the start of the General Election 2024.
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[@Nightsoil626]

The funniest walk back ever , soaked to the skin , no umbrella, no plan , no clue

[@Anton-ji4td]

😂

[@dierkmassis]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@TerriObrien-mi5rx]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂☔️☔️☔️☔️☔️☔️☔️

[@problemsolverthinktank859]

No plan, no clue is killing me 😂😂😂

[@hg82met]

Let's hope they didn't have to cut him out of that expensive, two-sizes-too-small suit that shrunk further after getting drenched.

[@cheydinal5401]

I think he'd rather be ousted in an election than being ousted by his own MPs

[@icemansuper1667]

never been voted in, never been voted out. if i were him i would just stand down LOL

[@chrysalis4126]

Rishi who is so "proud of being British" he donated 3 million dollars to a Californian private school and donated a £10 bottle of wine to his local primary school in Yorkshire.

[@lisadefries6718]

Says it all

[@abortedfriedchicken]

Well if he donates in the UK he will be accused of buying votes so you can have it both ways

[@jonsimmons4150]

i just found that.. the mans a disgrace.. all the mud slinging was true then.

[@Noobmaster69_bro]

It’s his hard earned money Kathy ✌️ he can’t spend it on what u want

[@GrindSzn7]

Not surprised

[@MrDavey2010]

Sunak has given up. So obvious! He’s looking forward to the Californian sunshine!

[@TomJohnson67]

I think he wants to lose so he can go and do other things. Imagine if he wins, he'd have to pretend to be happy about it!

[@SB-hm4iw]

Rishi wants to be in cali for the start of the new school year 😂

[@chrysalis4126]

This.

[@GaryV-p3h]

Has he got a new job as a janitor.

[@adetwg]

I thought Johnson resigning was an amazing day, but this is even better! 🎉

[@TheWebstaff]

Bring Back Boris!! We need a laugh.

[@martabatyi7159]

@adetwg - It's interesting, people always want better, and then they realize, only worse ones come and they don't even come close to great politicians, including Margaret Thatcher. Greetings from Hungary.

[@adetwg]

@@martabatyi7159 that you’re claiming Thatcher is a ‘great politician’ shows how little you know about the UK.

[@martabatyi7159]

@@adetwg Maybe, but he was a politician with a strong hand and at that time the EU was built on the economic relationship of the countries. Now there is a political struggle and Europe has been flooded with migrants, including Great Britain. Their leaders change within a short period of time, which means that the citizens are not satisfied with their work.

[@YinWhoo-zx2sz]

The ceiling is broken and the roof falling in on the Tories.

[@BLACKLOTUSuk]

Am I missing something? Why do people feel they have to vote again. Just leave this cubts alone

[@joannelewis3390]

Drowned rat

[@Greenpoloboy3]

My thoughts: He knows he is finished. Either he resigned in shame, either more MP's resign from his party and the Government collapses, or he takes the less embarrassing way out, by calling an elecion. He just wants out, and leave for California. He is hated by everyone and he knows it

[@kiriakoz]

MP’s are planning on retiring according to Rory Stewart.

[@thecheesefactor]

Could have called it for 2 May. Two months earlier to avoid so much carnage for the local Tories.

[@Noobmaster69_bro]

He doesn’t want to be ur PM from day 1 . Ur Lizz Truss messed up & he had to take over . ✌️why wod he , he is a billionaire

[@thecheesefactor]

@@Noobmaster69_bro I disagree. He ran in the leadership contest and lost to Truss. He wants it for his ego. But he is so rich he does not engage with the role, since the salary means nothing.

[@anthonybernstein9698]

He is a gambler, his entire fortune was made by gambling, even the made with P Morgan, a £1,000 bet that a flight would get off to Ruwanda with illegal immigrants aboard.

[@AbigailBrown-wk7xl]

Gas companies profits are up by 900% while families are being exploited . Gas and water companies should be nationalised

[@scept1_c73]

Totally!!

[@covfefe1787]

Move to China or Pakistan both have everything nationalized.

[@carlitoxb110]

the country of Venezuela did that, it didn't turned out so great

[@Matt-vo1ge]

​@carlitoxb110 been okay in France though eh.

[@andrewcooper103]

If labour dont do any better we will have no choice​@@covfefe1787

[@laurateaho-white9654]

Even the weather doesn't like the Tories

[@martinwall502]

Could they not have got Penny Mordaunt to hold an umbrella over him for a bit?

[@nothereandthereanywhere]

It likes them enough to give them only rain...

[@GaryV-p3h]

Don't worry, the sun will be shining on the 5th of July. Street party BYOB

[@j.x.x.r3645]

Indeed, shortly after the announcement I saw a rainbow, as if the weather was celebrating the imminent change of government (I know it's just a coincidence but still cool)

[@kwanchan6745]

@@martinwall502 that isn't rain...that is penny mordaunt and his rivals pee-ing on him from no.11

[@fenderek666]

Man with a plan couldn't plan an umbrella

[@lisadefries6718]

One might almost imagine his PR team let him up the garden path. Didn’t anyone check the weather forecast? Says everything I need to know about how prepared he is for another term …… my families wellbeing in his hands 😂 is this guy for real

[@CBM902Q]

​@@lisadefries6718 They got the weather wrong.

[@itsaibreeze]

Can you imagine announcing your own political death sentence live on tv getting absolutely soaked in the rain and having to hear things can only get better being blasted in the background... a fitting end to 14 years of chaos.

[@Haan22]

Nightmare fuel. Well deserved.

[@hotcandymail684]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@johndean1634]

Sunaks Speech made me want to Throw Up

[@Paul-eb2cl]

Me too.

[@dierkmassis]

Second, third and fourth that

[@lisadefries6718]

He had that Liz Truss delusional rhetoric. Starmer is too right wing for my taste feels much more like Cameron. Give me Corbyn any day at least he had principles and beliefs. Starmer on the other hand ….. simply lusts for power for powers sake. Oh well changing of the guard I guess. I am voting Green if they field a candidate in my Constituency in Surrey.

[@Rodimus184]

Same! He sounded so angry, so completely out of touch and acting like it's everyone else's fault but his

[@thevikingwarrior]

It was the worst leadership speech in all of recorded history.

[@rustynail1194]

Rishi slagging off labour when they've been nowhere near power for 14 years 😂 😂 😂

[@sdmr3506]

Wales?

[@fenderek666]

​@@sdmr3506 You do know you don't have that much power under devolution, right?

[@maccagrabme]

But Labour are the reason they have been in for 14 years and the 10 years of austerity to pay for the mess Labour left.

[@michaeljago4869]

@@sdmr3506 Yup Labour have been in Wales and they have completely fucked us

[@Charlie-ly9kp]

@@michaeljago4869no they haven’t… look at the mess in england

[@lisadefries6718]

Why did he call election for USA Independence Day ? 😂

[@RobBCactive]

Because it's a Thursday that's 6 weeks away and Sunak's party has been disintegrating

[@lisadefries6718]

@@RobBCactive yeah but the 4th lol he called it because he is about to be booted out by his own side and knew this way they couldn’t touch him lol. Anyway we know what will happen a changing of the guard and as Starmer doesn’t have a Labour bone in his body zero real change.

[@Maryhadalam]

The Americans will be too busy celebrating than watching him lose.

[@jaexiusnem1267]

It’s very fitting because he’ll be off to America soon

[@ronniew3229]

HMV

[@sluglife9785]

Self-sabotage. One of the very small handful of good things the Tories have done for this country.

[@Rodimus184]

Yep, self sabotaging by very kindly taking us down with them

[@Celticsamuraiblue]

THIS IS NOT A COUNTRY , IT IS A JOKE UNION 👎🏻🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿☮️🇪🇺

[@JJONNYREPP]

Election 2024: Drenched Rishi Sunak calls for vote in July 1133am 23.5.24 swirling hard? it's a well knwon fact that politicns can't get to grips with anything unless something swilrs hard about them... wtf!!! ch4 seem to be stuck in some whimsical wonderland spouting as much b.s as one can deal with in a lifetime let alone a day... whilst they report on this it stokes motions to war further east.. bad form ch4........... i caught the bus this morning due to rishi pointing out that there's no resl reason to stand out in the rain or walk purposefully in the rain when it's basially........ really not necessary... p.s he's not wrong - th el;abour party really has ost the plot as to what it sgtands for. they need to re-write the manifesto or fudge the founding principles... and hope we don't notice.

[@miaash3870]

Whether Sunak is placed in 10 Downing St. or Starmer makes no difference! The dormant folk get fooled over & over again and NEVER learn! These MPs are ALL in politics for self-gain!!! "Public Service" is the last thing on their minds!!!

[@EthanLomas]

When the country fell to its knees during COVID, the British government took a step back and let the markets decide what the British energy oligopoly could steal from its own people. While other governments put limits on what national energy industries could charge, the Tories did nothing except take back handers. No wonder Sunak has made over 100 million this year!

[@Anton-ji4td]

We havent known what the torries have to offer for 14 years.

[@meenasingh676]

We do… country is destroyed in every sector

[@paulgibbon5991]

Fear of spooky scary immigrants, and--no, that's it.

[@ColaSpandex]

​@@paulgibbon5991 don't forget trans people. 👻

[@Haan22]

​@@paulgibbon5991rubbish, you also got lies and broken promises.

[@ascgazz]

I have to thank the British weather for making the day today. That and the shocking lack of planning from our PM. NEXT!

[@GaryV-p3h]

Rishi doesn't need umbrellas where he's going, the flight is already booked for the 5th of July.

[@shaf3006]

need to check what inside of his luggage

[@poneill65]

Krish rocking the Umbrella technology,... Genius!

[@fenderek666]

Rishi is right We have seen enough. We've had enough.

[@lisadefries6718]

We certainly have more than enough unfortunately I am not excited as I dont like Starmers version of the Labour Party not one little bit

[@mr.christopheralancurd1349]

​@@lisadefries6718 Greetings, how's it going? I'm just going to vote for TUSC or/& The Socialist Party again. Thank you and Farewell

[@rw3899]

@@lisadefries6718 Starmer's Labour can actually compete in an election with a vision for Britain that actually works for the majority

[@poplife123]

Thank f.....the 14 year nightmare is over.....Never vote Tory

[@Notrollism]

It's not over yet. Get the Tories out first.

[@HimmelKing]

Vote Conservative or Reform just don’t vote left, lefts will destroy Europe, they love Islamic extremism and they will recognise A state of Palestine under Hamas Control+ Most of the world left is doing crimes by sending condolences to Raisi

[@chris-ub8in]

Who u voting for?

[@squirepraggerstope3591]

I never WILL vote again for the treacherous neo-globalist vermin now masquerading as Tories. Which doesn't mean I'll just act like some clueless Woke Cult mediocrities and vote instead for the other set of (in their case Britain-hating Metro-leftist) vermin masquerading as Labour

[@joannelewis3390]

​@@chris-ub8in Vote anyone but not the cons

[@soviet9366]

Wonderfully symbolic press conference.

[@GaryV-p3h]

Very fitting I thought. Just like the last 14 years of the Tories, a total washout.

[@BrokenHill56]

He's drowning in his own wet suit

[@andrewroberts826]

A sad little man, standing in the rain.

[@coppershark1973]

Without the intelligence to hold a brolly.

[@MusaMecanica]

This announcement has the vibes of Giulliani dripping ink in front of that gardening store.

[@interloper8029]

This season of The Thick Of It is the funniest yet.

[@paulgibbon5991]

Eh, the plot is increasingly implausible, and the characters are very unbelievable.

[@johngrissinger6463]

I am an American that finds ch4 makes what’s happening in the UK most understandable.

[@RobBCactive]

It's mad. But we have to "Vote the Tories out to help out"!

[@coppershark1973]

They’re the only decent news source left!

[@retrorampage484]

They are generally regarded as being very left wing.

[@gerrabath]

@retrorampage484 Generally by very right wingers.

[@NewMinority]

@@coppershark1973😂😂😂😂 that’s funny

[@hughiedavies6069]

Respect to the EU protester for the background music 😂

[@joannelewis3390]

Things can only get better

[@redalert2834]

The Tories seem to have as much control over the weather as they have over everything else.

[@theminisimmer]

If he wants to get more votes, he needs to pull back on his policies designed to target the disabled and the mentally ill.

[@alexvince461]

Nothing else happens in parliament now, they don't do any more business

[@Granolora]

​@@alexvince461and they'll be doing even less when they get dissolved

[@AbigailBrown-wk7xl]

Rishi has ruined the NHS . People are poorer under sunak's government. Rishi has put taxes up . More people are using foodbanks . Immigration is out of control. The uk is a mess . Rishi needs to go

[@mjtigerfang]

Blair ruined the nhs, Blair ruined students futures with tuition fees and messed up them buying homes w, no opportunities thanks to loans they’ll be paying off for years, labour left Britain in debt before tories got in and labour squandered good growth to put us at a trillion debt, they did all that without any Brexit or Covid. If they were in power during either we would already be 3rd world and In deep recession so don’t count those chickens just yet. They about to get the opportunity all over again to finish the job 👍🏻

[@mjtigerfang]

And Blair ruined nhs because he borrowed to give them extra instead of sorting out the longer term problems it and that needed fixing, He basically threw money at something that takes a lot of gdp, at a time Britain didn’t have it to give

[@mjtigerfang]

Thus increased national debt and made the nhs backlogs when that money run out , worse than ever

[@NewMinority]

NHS is beyond saving! It’s finished! We need it reforming

[@samcarena4702]

Nothing will change with Kid Starver

[@daisyl2629]

Sunak can’t even work an umbrella so I’m not surprised he is going to end his time as PM just as he started it. wet, wet, wet.

[@clubrepedd]

"Labour have no plan" But also I forgot to plan an umbrella.

[@clubrepedd]

@@ReinholdBinder-d9n Read it again..

[@Macaroni1479]

Fishi wouldn't Know the Truth if it hit him straight between the eyes non of them would...He has No integrity at all Zilch

[@Anton-ji4td]

He has just agreed his start date for his new job, so he resigned today.

[@Char.Chi.]

I think we can all agree that the Tories deserve to be out, but for the love of God, Starmer isn't an improvement. Vote him out too.

[@kathrynmanning1563]

Does they not watch the weather forecast, or have access to umbrellas?

[@katejackson7432]

or loo5 out the window, lol t4at wtd mean risking t4ier unreality bubble

[@pinkpanther7030]

Don't they have umbrellas in Down street house for the PM? 😁

[@kwanchan6745]

george galloway's response to the sky "news" reporter comes to mind "I despise the PM"

[@briandelaney9710]

The likes of Galloway despises a lot of the time

[@davidleonard37]

Looks like he climbed back out of the toilet bowl he has been circling.

[@frtd12345]

They could have so easily done this announcement inside like during Covid but no, let's go outside in the pouring rain with no umbrella, fighting to get your voice heard while the soundtrack to your political rival's previous success plays. Absolute geniuses at number 10.

[@eddy66t6]

Lad can't even plan for an umbrella nevermind a government

[@fintamaria2429]

Austerity. Austerity for workers, This Economy, only works for the Rich, like Sunak💰💰💰💰💰

[@thodystack]

I am going for uncertainty from Labour. It has to be better than the certainty the Conservatives have given us these past 14 years.

[@theplasteredfinger5942]

not waving but drowning!

[@delatroy]

Vote no to killing kids this time plz

[@maryconnor6173]

His hair withstood the rain at least.

[@icemansuper1667]

a wig

[@Chaos_Senpai]

All that expensive hair oil

[@TheF1uffyOne.50]

Great, so prices aren't going up as quick...but still going up!!

[@LiamAustin]

Wally with no brolly

[@Deathwish026]

good luck seeing any normal citizen in the uk getting that treatment after sepsis....

[@natsdaley9615]

Incoming memes......

[@KB-bf2io]

Sunak i reckon had 50 letters from 1922 and didn't have an option.

[@Touhou-forever]

I think that it's time for Britain to adopt PR because First Past the Post isn't very democratic

[@TheLucanicLord]

He'll be in California asking Uncle Elon for a bedtime story before the weather turns nippy.

[@paulgibbon5991]

I have the Travis song "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" running through my head right now.

[@TheHookahSmokingCaterpillar]

At least Starmer has the sense to speak inside on a rainy day. With a bit of luck Rish! will get pneumonia - but he probably can't even catch a cold.

[@johnkelly9046]

Yeah, but he always looks wet, even indoors!😂

[@TheHookahSmokingCaterpillar]

@@johnkelly9046 He's certainly a drip.

[@lastlast2078]

No potholes on that street, we can see where all the money goes.

[@peterdollins3610]

Rishi says in his Drowning St statement this is most difficult time since the Second World War. I was born 1942 and if this time is difficult it is because of this Tory Government kicking off with the insane and disproven austerity that is now recognised as setting our economy backwards. The higher energy prices came from the Tories running down our gas and energy reserves not taxing the obscene profits of the energy companies to offset such prices. Covid was mishandled by the Tories who cancelled the department set up by Blair to handle plagues when we were hit by Ebola. I have Long Covid that cut 80% of my energy and strength after Johnson took down the mild safety measures we had so a young woman came up and breathed into my face in a shopping queue in May 2022 giving me Covid. (See Laurie Garrett's 'The Coming Plague' published 1994.) The Tories destroyed our economy and standing in the world by Brexit that costs us £100billion a year with the destruction of the majority of our small businesses. Then the corruption the incompetence the sadism the lying of our Tory Governments has destroyed the UK in every possible fashion. Vote these lying bastards out of office forever.

[@paulgibbon5991]

The difference being that it was external pressures in WW2. The current woes are entirely self-inflicted--even the unpredictable events like Covid were navigated with shocking amateurishness.

[@Mike_5]

This is like some sort of strange Watersports video

[@lisadefries6718]

😂😂😂

[@alexanderromanov737]

Sunak should have changed the locks when he moved in to No.10. Johnson's still got a key, that was him, the lying fatso, pissing down from the bedroom window, on little Prime Miniscule Shortpants, what a bunch of prats we got. Eh?

[@gerrabath]

LOL!

[@melgrant7404]

He was forced to call it imo.

[@AbigailBrown-wk7xl]

Rishi needs to go

[@grahamturner1290]

At least Sunak's suit may fit better now. Every cloud has a silver lining. 🌨️

[@coppershark1973]

That TORY MP who lost his hands and feet has the most appalling voting record. I have ZERO sympathy for him. Reap what you sow.

[@thegoat11111]

I was thinking the same. It's terrible what happened to him but I have little doubt that his votes have cost lives.

[@icemansuper1667]

@@thegoat11111 had the nhs been better funded his limbs may have been saved. it just looked a bit funny

[@hanifahkaaba8067]

'Things can only get wetter'....🤣😂☔☔☔

[@macsmiffy2197]

Nice to see Gary Gibbon using a notebook. I bet it’s full of shorthand too. 😉

[@kerenhumphreys43]

Doodles lol.

[@ronniejones4183]

Just need him to trip on the steps on the way back in and it would have been a perfect speech 😂

[@rafia_khan]

Mean but a hilarious visual popped up

[@samcarena4702]

Kid Starver otherwise known as Tel Aviv Keith has no plan

[@davidcwitkin6729]

Better now than later. Why delay the inevitable?

[@paulinnanjing]

Labour's plan was literally announced in the past week. And he chooses this moment to say they don't have one. This guy could not even organise his staff to check the weather forecast.

[@pnklady3788]

Well done Steve Bray for the soundtrack!

[@irfanahmmednayan]

Toris had plan for 14 years and still we are listening to the plan

[@GaryV-p3h]

These things take time, you can't just rush into things, give them another 20 years & they'll get there , it's like brexit, we'll start to see the benefits in about 40 years.

[@johnsinclair1386]

I never realised that angels could spit so accurately.

[@sassasins031]

If you vote Labour or Conservative then you need your head looking at.

[@techtinkerin]

Well what's the alternative? Vote knowingly that they won't win?

[@jon780249]

Sinking in the rain, he’s sinking in the rain…

[@greenplanet7767]

... today pinnochio sunak played the GREEN CARD 💚

[@nenaaa1444]

I’m enjoying reading the comments from America.

[@alanfrost4661]

I bet his flight to the US is already booked

[@Bufford2024]

Oopsie, Doom loop ahead. Angry voters never do what you expect them to.

[@imaweerascal]

"We're the ones with the plan... wait a minute. What's that wet stuff falling from the sky? No one saw that coming!!"

[@p_adam19]

This is great comedy, and the press even present it like that. Love it, can't wait for the next episode.

[@caribbeanman]

I never am impressed by any interviewer asking questions then cutting off the answers halfway. I would like to hear the answer. It shows your amateurish belief that journalism needs to be confrontational all the time. You one trick pony. We need better talent on air

[@marcuspowell2764]

He said either him or Stamer will be PM planting the seeds to show it's allways only a 2 horse race which ever 1 wins we are all still fucked

[@garethboyd8580]

Never in the history of humanity has a clearer resignation letter been written. Standing in front of his own house, absolutely soaked, despite having spent millions on a briefing room inside, while someone blares out “things can only get better”. That level of “F*ck you,I quit”. .. That deserves a chef’s kiss. F*ck you right back though.

[@albaniaa4781]

I am an Albanian immigrant that was born here and am voting for Reform UK

[@atruthseekerwords1941]

Things can only get wetter😂😂😂 gold

[@essealants3730]

Kier stamer up against Andrew Finstein for his own seat should be a good one Andrew being a south african Jewish man who was part of nelson mandelas goverment, Kier the human rights lawyer ignoring human rights against a man of conviction if kier looses he wont be pm let alone leader of the labour party

[@samcarena4702]

Rashide Susnake will go down in history in a deluge of failure

[@ponypong261]

An unelected failure seeks the impossible. Bye-bye to all the Conservative and Unionist National Treasures.

[@richardfinnigan7458]

LOL "Things are only going to get better" with it chucking it down on him and yes, he kept going.

[@alexander777-n3s]

Drenched by his own cloud seeding policies 😂😂😂 what a drip

[@MrMichaelLoyd]

Take an umbrella?

[@adrianbrown527]

There is a cynical reason Sunak has called this Election here He knows something.

[@cherylwilkinson92]

Kier Starmer, you say you have principles and a plan, fine, What is it?

[@Ineedahandle75]

Rishi is taking a duvet day today to allow his suit to dry out.

[@star-ed7fj]

Am about to get out of the country until 4th of July, what a happy day today

[@homonym7638]

'There's no panic here' says the Lib Dem MP with a terrifyingly wide smile

[@AbigailBrown-wk7xl]

Rishi is a clown

[@TooSlowTube]

World's shortest podium.