Prime Minister Rishi Sunak "surprised his own party" when calling the July General Election, GB News presenter Andrew Pierce told Chopper's Political Podcast.
Two weeks ago, Sunak announced to the nation that the country would go to the polls in the summer, after months of speculation as to when the ballot would be called.
Discussing the decision on Chopper's Political Podcast, Andrew and journalist Kevin Maguire joined Political Editor Christopher Hope to question if having a summer election was the right choice - for both the Conservatives and for the country.
Analysing Sunak's strategy, Christopher suggested that instead of using "all the levers he can pull in Government", he's "brushed it all away and gone to the country".
Andrew Pierce says Rishi Sunak 'surprised his own party' with the general election
GB News
Christopher explained: "Do you not think what happened here was you had a bunch of clever clogs, people around Rishi Sunak, eight people, maybe.
"There's a group think about this idea of this election and no one is in the room challenging them, saying, why on earth are you going early?"
Revealing what could have happened in the political calendar had an election not been called, Christopher told GB News: "There's a Nato Summit in Washington coming up.
"The PM would go and Sunak can say I'm spending 2.5 per cent on of our GDP on defence. There's a summit on Europe in Blenheim Palace this month. He would then put the UK at the heart of the EU again after Brexit.
Andrew Pierce says Sunak was 'afraid of events not working out in his favour'
GB News
"He's got interest rate cuts, maybe, from the Bank of England in June and September and he's got maybe an improving economy."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Andrew shared his thoughts on Sunak's decision and argued that the political calendar was avoided due to the Prime Minister's fears of "the events going against him" and "not in his favour".
Maguire noted the past decisions of Jim Callaghan and Gordon Brown who "fatally delayed" the election, in comparison to Sunak "calling it too early".
He added: "If you go back in in recent history, Jim Callaghan and Gordon Brown fatally delayed on calling an election.
"We're going to find that Sunak fatally called it too soon, four or five months earlier than he should."
Christopher Hope said Sunak has not 'pulled all the levers he could have in Government'
GB News
Andrew echoed Maguire's thoughts and added that the decision would have been a "surprise" to the Conservatives.
He told Chopper's Political Podcast: "The Tories got rid of the Fixed Term Parliament Act, which was brought in as a result of the coalition. So that was his gift.
"And he could have sprung a surprise, but he sprung a surprise on his own party. That was the problem."
Sharing his view on the timing of the election, Christopher suggested: "I think if he'd waited until November, he could say to the party I did all I could in the time allowed.
"Instead, this defeat will be blamed on him personally. He's torching his personal brands and he's setting fire to the entire Tory house by doing it."
