Rishi Sunak calls snap July election | Analysis from Labour, Tory and Lib Dem political masterminds

“What Rishi Sunak has done is to basically to decide to put himself, his family and the rest of the country out of their misery.”
After months of speculation, the prime minister has called a snap general election to be held on the 4th of July. Political masterminds Peter Mandelson, Daniel Finkelstein, and Polly Mackenzie join Matt Chorley live from the Podcast Show in London to give their analysis on why Rishi Sunak has made his decision and what to expect from the next six weeks.
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[@harrypainter7472]

Are you aware that there's a big audio problem?

[@guydreamr]

Yes, no one's listening to the Tories at the moment.

[@user-ss4rx4ul4i]

Is that a problem 😂😂😂

[@johnthekeane]

It's a sad day when Britain can no longer produce umbrellas.

[@dameonwalker8994]

Umbrellas? In Rishi's world they are things carried by serfs and plebs.

[@theflipflapchannelcreatedb8160]

Everything is made in China these days and so does the USA?

[@IbnBahtuta]

They are not umbrellas, they are gamps, at least they were earlier in my life, ah the good old days when a gamp was a gamp. Did I mention the gamp thingy? 🤣

[@AndyBanner]

Sky news had umbrellas and also people who cared enough about their presenters to hand them over...... Just sayin'

[@ColinBarrett001]

Wally without a brolly... trying to tell us Labour doesn't have a plan, when he himself couldn't even plan for the fact that it's raining.

[@JoButterwick]

😂😂😂

[@thehangingparsiple5692]

Top comment 🤣🤣

[@robc7162]

This timing is all about catching Reform out. They won't have time to get all their candidates in place and supporters knocking on doors. So it will stop the loss of the Tory vote to Reform where they are not standing. No need for a 2019 Brexit party type stand down. Just to be clear, I'm not for Reform, just calling it as I see it.

[@NZAnimeManga]

Bingo -- it's a stitch up by the false-choice uni-party blob. Starmer or Rishi, doesn't matter. This is (desperate) containment through and through.

[@JohnHillRSNStudios]

Yeah and that might save the Tories from an apocalyptic showing like they had feared and instead be a really bad loss where Labour have a 100+ majority.

[@jeffthechristian3010]

Where are they recording? They need a proper quiet space - clearly put together on very short notice.

[@harrypainter7472]

The podcast sounded fine. Seems to be a problem exclusive to this video.

[@jeffthechristian3010]

25:15 Peter is absolutely right. Complacency is death. My prediction from across the Pond? Labour 400 Conservatives 150 Lib Dem 40 Greens take Brighton Pavilion yet agaon

[@maryj5593]

Shame about the sound quality. I really enjoy Polly, Danny and Peter but I really like Matt and I will miss him so much when he moves to BBC 5 live. If you read this Matt thank you so much especially for your humorous approach.

[@rgp101]

Sound is always appalling for these outdoor broadcasts. They must know, so I assume they're not bothered.

[@flatoutflatbroke]

They were doing some panel on stage at The Podcast Show.

[@tezinho81]

4th of July eh, very appropriate for a guy who will be moving back to America soon

[@feekygucker2678]

Be back when you sort the sound out... whoopsies!

[@davidwright7193]

Could someone tell the wolly without a brolly that things can only get wetter

[@VesiustheBoneCruncher]

Guys you’ve phase inverted one of your channels, mono audio is a mess as a result

[@user-zc4yd9ss7h]

Choosing to do the speech in a downpour was simply brilliant. What a drip!!!!!!!

[@seanlander9321]

Itchy Sack jumped into an election before his party turned on him, and that’s rather sad 😂

[@dameonwalker8994]

A load of old flannel from Rishi, wet Saville Row flannel but flannel all the same.

[@wishawweather5421]

Sound problems with this video, volume level at -1

[@guydreamr]

Your profile pic is a perfect complement to Rishi's sign off speech.

[@NickRothman1980]

I assume Sunak didn't consult the Minister for Common Sense about this decision.....

[@timsturbo4870]

The man who spent 2.6 million on a press briefing suite inside No10 😂

[@guydreamr]

The Tories are all wet. 🌧

[@FM-vh3ck]

Can't hear it

[@adamcbright]

'Yep, levels are good.'

[@_Richard_F___]

If they think they are in with a chance they're deluded . 👹

[@thethinkingcatakaneonormie3527]

The Sunak speech was the most embarrassing pointless speech full of scaremongering and his uncomfortable glancing at the written speech it had really Alan Partridge energy

[@martincheeseman5809]

I bet Sunak has never had a fight in his life private school private education,private health care private everything!

[@janpetersen7440]

It will be interesting to see if the general election turnout will be as low (40%) as in the election of London mayor. 🤔

[@dameonwalker8994]

That's a fairly typical turnout for a local election, general elections tend to turn out approx. 70% researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8060/CBP-8060.pdf

[@blackwatertv7018]

Looking for excuses on why will Lose I see.

[@willsalomone4137]

Any reason to single London out when 40% was one of the highest turnouts that day? Most of the others results, including the other mayoral elections and the Blackpool South Byelecton, had a turnout of circa 30%...

[@janpetersen7440]

@@willsalomone4137 30-40% turnout is a mockery of democracy.

[@willsalomone4137]

Pretty common in local elections, tends to be higher in general elections. And nothing undemocratic about low turnouts - people choose not to exercise their right to vote. Are you suggesting taking that option away from them by making voting compulsory? Not sure that's very democratic. And still doesn't explain why you singled out the London mayoral election when it had one of the highest turnouts.

[@JohnnyinMN]

Which rock concert was Sunak speaking from?

[@slloyd6577]

Voices from the ventriloquists box?

[@user-qt2ok6gd6s]

Who was that genius at the beginning?

[@stephenpettett3472]

Hopefully you´ll keep this going throughout the campaign. Please don´t stop now. Always feel it´s a bit of a cop-out when pundits refuse to put a number on the size of a majority. Can accept a range of possible results ( as Danny did), but most of us would hazard a guess so they should be able to .

[@bobalopadus8901]

Everyone talks about this amazing, historic swing that's needed, completely ignoring the unique Brexit elephant in the room that upended the trajectory the country was on before. The swing is going to happen, and all it represents is course correction from the Brexit blip

[@knightsnight5929]

Huge sound issues, its very quite and distorted.

[@TouringTony]

Great expectation management in terms of Labour majority If its less than 150 I'd be shocked. Sunak will do really badly in the campaign period just as May did so it could be higher

[@malcolmtucker8042]

Not sure what that soggy guy was saying, I could only focus on the music😂

[@brianwarden7250]

It will look like 1964. "Are we going to get a prediction and death?". Danny is very funny.

[@2TUFSS]

whoops, someone managed to get their stereo channels out-of-phase........

[@ivanconnolly7332]

Wishi looks squishey.

[@CodeCancerLab]

The audio :(

[@ammornil]

It is not a snap election. It's an elections year.

[@lappylappy7269]

Are you receiving me ….over !

[@Skattie]

So the a holes mess up then….chuck the hot potato

[@AndyBanner]

What makes this a snap election. If the Fixed Term Parliament Act hadn't been repealed, we would have had it already.

[@donaldjones5386]

I always thought a "snap" election was one your side was sure to win, where you took advantage of current popularity to extend your time in office. But, here in the U.S. we have our own "election problems", mainly that the campaigns last forever and are getting hugely expensive. Good luck with yours; at least it will be over soon enough!

[@shanecrosbie9191]

I’d just like to reference the exchange at 18:30. This is a strange contemporary message from conservatives. The exact same thing happened with Labor in Australia. The conservatives and the media spent weeks talking about how Labor had ‘no plan’ and weren’t going to do anything different from the conservatives. This is despite that fact that, of course, as it is in the UK as well, the two parties are significantly different in their focus and policy. It’s just strange

[@Revo88888]

Rishi. We're dumping you out #nhs

[@Dmanz67]

This is unwatchable.

[@jonathancarless8496]

I think the labour majority will be 92.

[@a.demifemiflapo5795]

Tories are about to be destroyed by other parties not just Labour 😂😂

[@johnproton259]

What a clown show! And that's just the audio!

[@Yvonne-jk6ic]

Reform did exist in 2019 it was the brexit party. Nigel had my vote back then until he reneged and gave us boris. He comes back now reform will not get my vote.

[@JD-Media]

U ruined your entire video with faulty audio

[@JimmyKartounii]

you are all guilty by association,rule 43 materials

[@theflipflapchannelcreatedb8160]

Rishi Sunak is going American this time not just for the vacation in california but about to turn into an American bald eagle😂😂😂😂🦅🦅🦅🦅

[@samturner8028]

The argument about labour needing a historic swing therefore making a majority less likely seems to me a logical fallacy based on numerous bogus assumptions. In reality different election results are in no way connected to one another. The result of 2019 has no bearing on 2024, every vote is cast anew and each party starts from 0 MPs. The second is that the context of 2024 resembles almost nothing of 2019 or is in fact a mirror image. 2019 was a Labour leader considered weak and unpopular with a plan at odds with the public's interest against a charismatic and energetic new Tory leader focused on a single issue on which the public broadly supported. Fast forward and the individuals have changed as have the issued and the positions. Finally, the global, political and economic backdrops are almost unrecognisable to 2019 as is the general sentiment of hatred towards the Conservative party in the country that has been waiting an opportunity to punish them. These things combined make the argument about swings completely irrelevant however if people want to stick with that orthodoxy it will just result in Keir Starmer being remembered as one of the most outstanding campaigners in British history which is quite funny.

[@phillloyd2519]

Thinking the Tories are getting re-elected is hilarious

[@davidhamilton6363]

Vote for the Workers party,or independent candidate,if you live in Scotland SNP, Voting for Labour and Tories is a vote for decline, food banks and ruin

[@ilaister9652]

Never seen a man look as shifty as finkelstein does around the 10m30 mark. Not a happy camper.

[@PJWilkinson]

Was this recorded inside a toilet roll?

[@shaun906]

so you failed at making the world a safer place over the past 14 years?

[@stevec6232]

Audio is dreadful. Surely a professional channel can do better than this???

[@anthonybrown4874]

Can you blame him? Given the hammering his party will take then he fets to resign then the in fighting and subsequent emergence of an even more extreme leader than you could imagine oh joy.

[@jamesgreen1116]

Britain has no democracy yet cry about other countries democracy. An unelected prime minister 😂

[@1pauljs]

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

[@harrypainter7472]

I'm no supporter of Sunak, but we don't elect prime ministers, we elect MPs.

[@alst4817]

What are u talking about? We elect constituency representatives not prime ministers!

[@richardmccallum8597]

People who cry about less than perfect audio seriously need to get a life

[@laurawalker6431]

Sunak has helped us keep inflation down while other countries are struggling despite COVID and Putin monster war! I think we should give Sunak a chance of a second term! Labour is anotherTony Blair…

[@samcarena4702]

The labour party have absolutely nothing to offer

[@a.d.clarke4990]

27:14 it’s not a “change” it’s a cycle. Labour nor the Tories represent true change. 🙄

[@kalekold]

Remember when Keir Starmer took the knee to BLM? I do. I'm not voting for him. Labour no longer represents the working class.

[@boringstuff1542]

That's all it took? lol

[@dameonwalker8994]

Non sequitur.

[@ninaowusu8157]

Okay edl 😂😂 go and vote reform. Labour is winning even without your vote 🗳

[@johncooke8173]

FACTUALLY INCORRECT, taking the knee is to show support for fighting racism and discrimination, and to celebrate diversity which suggests he represents a larger part of the population than you.

[@eughrologh]

You poor snowflake.

[@user-yw4qc6lv5k]

Well you snoot , it’s clearly obvious that someone is going to win the election, hopefully not stand outside in the rain to address the nation feel sorry for me sunak ,