Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Five times Theresa May ruled out calling for a snap General Election in the past 12 months

Prime Minister Theresa May
Prime Minister Theresa May

Theresa May has caught the country off guard with her shock call for a General Election to be held on June 8.

The proposal, which looks almost certain to be voted through in the House of Commons tomorrow, is shocking not only because there appeared to be little forewarning but because the Prime Minister had repeatedly ruled out any chance of a snap election being held.

In fact, here are five occasions in the past 12 months where Theresa May has either personally, or through her official staff, stated that there would not be an election before 2020…

 

Home Secretary Theresa May launches her Conservative leadership campaign at RUSI in London
Home Secretary Theresa May launches her Conservative leadership campaign at RUSI in London

June 2016 – while standing to replace David Cameron as Tory leader – “There should be no general election until 2020. There should be a normal autumn statement held in the normal way, at the normal time, and no emergency budget.”

 

Theresa May

July 2016 – while speaking to Tory party members – “Let us redouble our efforts. And let us make sure we put this time to good use, to build the support we need to go to the country in four years’ time, and not just win, but win big.”

 

Theresa May appears on the Andrew Marr Show (file pic)
Theresa May appears on the Andrew Marr Show (file pic)

September 2016 – in her first official interview as Prime Minister on the Andrew Marr show – “I’m not going to be calling a snap election. I’ve been very clear that I think we need that period of time, that stability, to be able to deal with the issues that the country is facing and have that election in 2020.”

 

William Hague
William Hague

March 2017 – responding to former Tory leader William Hague’s call for a snap election – a No 10 source says it is not something Prime Minister Theresa May “plans to do or wishes to do”.

 

The front door of 10 Downing Stree

March 2017 –  her official spokesman ruling out a snap election – “There is no change in our position on an early general election, that there isn’t going to be one… It is not going to happen… We have been clear that there isn’t going to be an early general election and the Prime Minister is getting on with delivering the will of the British people.”