Sunak: Britain to vote on 4 July

A vote in the middle of summer, with few precedents in history, to decide the political future of the United Kingdom. Rishi Sunak, the 44-year-old Prime Minister and Conservative leader in the twilight of a very troubled legislature, has broken the hesitations: the British people will be called to the polls on 4 July to decide whether to seal the almost announced victory - polls in hand - of Sir Keir Starmer's neo-moderate Labour, or to grant the miracle of another chance to the Tories, veterans of 14 years of a turbulent cycle of power marked by Brexit, crises, scandals, pandemics and global war scenarios.

The acceleration of Sunak - the first head of government in the island's history, the son of immigrants from the former Indian colony, but also the richest tenant of Downing Street in the modern era - came as a surprise. With only a few hours' notice, which came after the evasive answer given in Wednesday's Question Time in the House of Commons to those who asked him if he was afraid of a hypothetical summer vote and yet another vague indication of an election deadline 'in the second half of the year'.

Words that were followed by the convening of a cabinet meeting that was anything but ordinary, among hastily summoned ministers. An hour-long meeting, which ended with the ritual exit in front of the number 10 gate for the official communication to the nation after the formal act of a telephone conversation with Charles III in his capacity as Head of State. "I have spoken to His Majesty and the King has granted my request for a general election to be held on the 4th of July," Sunak said under a rain-swollen sky that then materialised, while his choreography was ruined by the loudspeakers of a group of Labour demonstrators who had gathered a few metres away to play at full volume, by way of mockery, the notes of the song 'Things Can Only Get Better', the anthem of the election campaign that brought Tony Blair triumph in 1997.

Despite the sword of Damocles of dismal polls, which for months now have put the Tories at least 20 points behind Labour, Sunak has tried to invoke the horizon of a game that is not entirely closed. Saying he is determined to 'fight for every vote' with the aim of regaining 'the trust of the electorate'; claiming his government has done 'everything possible to protect' the country from the setbacks of 'challenges' described in the last four years as the toughest 'since the Second World War'. Not without claiming to have 'a plan' for countering 'illegal immigration' or 'stabilising the economy'. And conversely chastising rival Starmer for being prepared to 'do anything to gain power'.

Words to which Sir Keir responded dryly by stating that it is time to "change for the better", in the Kingdom's third legislative election since the Brexit referendum in 2016 sanctioned the divorce from the EU. And, riding on collective fatigue at a cycle of power far too long for British traditions, he accused the Conservatives of having "left our country more insecure" after 14 years of governments and five prime ministers.