It is the question he can’t escape from – but Rishi Sunak’s habit of trying to laugh off queries about the general election date may finally be coming back to haunt him.
The prime minister was asked “why is that funny?” by a BBC local radio presenter after breaking into laughter in the first of several interviews on Tuesday, when he was pressed on when voters could expect to cast their verdict on his government.
Sunak had just been told by Amy Oakden, the host of BBC Radio Tees, that the “overwhelming” question that listeners wanted an answer to was when the general election would be. They included people who believed he “hasn’t got the guts” to call one.
“Well, I’ve answered that question many times in the last few weeks,” replied the laughing Conservative leader, who added: “unfortunately not” when pressed.
“Why not? Why is that funny? Sorry. Why are you laughing about that?” asked Oakden.
“Because there’s a way that we announce general elections, and it would be done in a formal and official way. And I think that the most important thing is the choice at the election.”
The laughter returned in another interview shortly afterwards on BBC Newcastle, where a presenter asked him when he would “face the music,” telling the prime minister: “I know you laugh … you’ve obviously been asked this question a number of times, when is the general election going to be, but you know, this is a chance for people to choose who is running the country.”
“Because there’s a formula, an official way we do that,” said Sunak, who went on to repeat his position, expressed in January, that his “working assumption” was that a vote would be called in the second half of the year.
In a third interview, with ITV Tyne Tees, Sunak again struggled to contain his laughter, and refused to narrow down the election to an individual season in the face of pressing by the journalist Tom Sheldrick, who pointed out that the prime minister was sitting in front of a children’s school collage that listed the seasons.
There had been an expectation Sunak was planning for an election in October or November. However, there has been speculation in recent days that he could call an election in June or July as a means of closing down a leadership challenge should his party experience disastrous results in next month’s local elections.
Political opponents were quick to weaponise the laughter, with Labour releasing a clip on the social media platform X which urged voters to punish the government in the local elections: “Rishi Sunak thinks it’s funny that you want a chance to vote for change. You can stop him laughing by voting for it on Thursday 2 May.”
The Liberal Democrats’ local government spokesperson, Helen Morgan, said: “Rishi Sunak laughing in the face of people crying out for change is the perfect example of how careless, callous and chaotic this Conservative party is.”