Could Truss be tempted by an early election?
The timing of the next general election is not something that we have looked at very much on PB and the general assumption is that it will be 2024. I just wonder whether Liz Trust, assuming that it is her, might be tempted to go early if by any chance she gets a polling boost when the result comes out the week after next.
The only problem here is the memory within the Conservative party about what happened with Theresa May in 2017. She was riding high in the polls with the Tories having leads of up to 25% and she opted to go for an election in the June. This proved to be a disastrous decision with the small CON majority she had inherited turning into no majority at all.
A lot depends on how the public responds to Liz Truss when she enters number 10 the week after next but the experience of other leaders coming in the midterm is that they have enjoyed a polling boost.
The abolition of the Fixed Term Parliament Act leaves the decision entirely with the PM.