Mystery date: when is the right time to call a general election?

Will it be May? Maybe October? Perhaps November? Surely not January 2025? Yes, everyone is talking about when the next general election is going to be held – and speculating when Rishi Sunak will decide to go to the country.

So is it right for the prime minister to have the power to choose the date of a general election? What are the key considerations to make when looking at the polls – or the weather forecast? And what does history tell us about when is the right time to call an election – and when is the wrong time to stick rather than twist?

This special episode of Inside Briefing brings together three veterans of elections that were – or maybe weren’t – to look back on their experiences and discuss what might happen next.

Former Labour MP Jacqui Smith was home secretary when Gordon Brown chose not to call a general election in the autumn of 2007.

Katie Perrior was working as the Number 10’s director of communications when Theresa May decided to call a snap election in 2017.

Political adviser and pollster James Johnson worked in No10 as a strategic adviser to Theresa May between 2016 and 2019.

Presented by Tim Durrant.

Produced by Milo Hynes and Podmasters.

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