RISHI SUNAK gambled on a snap general election, announcing today a poll likely to bring down the curtain on 14 years of miserable Tory rule.

He surprised Westminster by announcing that the country will vote on July 4, with the present parliament dissolving next week.

Mr Sunak fires the starting gun as Labour is 20 per cent ahead in the polls, making Sir Keir Starmer the bookies’ favourite to be in Downing Street come July 5.

The long-beleaguered Prime Minister apparently decided that today’s fall in the inflation rate to 2.3 per cent — nearly in line with official targets — was as good as the news was ever going to get for him.

Announcing his move outside No 10, Mr Sunak invoked his most popular moment — launching the pandemic furlough scheme as Chancellor four years ago — and talked up economic stability.

Speaking in steady rain and, bizarrely, with Labour’s 1997 victory tune Things Can only Get Better blaring unbidden in the background, Mr Sunak said that the world was now as dangerous as it had ever been since WWII.

He pitched the coming choice as between himself, a trusted man with a plan, and the vagaries of Starmer’s Labour.

Previously, it had been assumed the Tories would try to hold on until October or November, more-or-less as late as possible.

But speculation mounted through the day today as the Commons corridor heaved with speculation that the electoral starting gun was about to be fired.

The sudden change of heart may also reflect fear that his migrant deportation flights to Rwanda may never get off the ground, meaning months more wrangling with judges and the recalcitrant Tory right.

Labour was jubilant at the turn of events, anticipating what may be a landslide victory. The party claimed to have its campaign all set, based on the “six steps” of marginal significance outlined by Sir Keir last week.

Left MP John McDonnell said: “It’s time for change.

“Fourteen years of Conservative government have undermined much of the fabric of our society, our NHS, schools and colleges, our environment and economy.”

Tory MPs by contrast were walking round with long faces, many of them facing electoral obliteration and most of them doubting the wisdom of Mr Sunak’s strategy.

One Tory described “panic in the tearoom” and said “everyone [was] mortified” by the Premier’s move, which a leading figure on the right of the party described as “madness.”

Certainly calling an election when 20 per cent behind in the polls is high risk, but in truth there is no reason to believe the Tory prospects would be any better in a few months.

The main issue in the election will certainly be the state of the economy.  The last 14 years have been marked by stagnant living standards and an extreme squeeze on public spending.

The TUC pointed out today that the falling inflation figures do not mark the end of the cost-of-living crisis.

General secretary Paul Nowak said: “The cost-of-living crisis is not over.

“Millions up and down the country are still having to cut back on everyday essentials as they struggle to makes ends meet.”

TUC polling has revealed that 58 per cent of the public say living standards have not got better this year while only 14 per cent believe they have improved, with many sinking deeper into debt.

That will be the essential backdrop to the election campaign, although British support for Israel’s Gaza genocide will surely play a significant part too.

On the Labour left, there are fears that the snap poll may provide cover for the prevailing Starmer right to further purge the Parliamentary Labour Party of dissenting voices, by declining to endorse them as election candidates for the party.

The most famous of the already-excluded, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, will on Thursday declare that he will fight the election as an independent in his Islington North constituency.

He has been barred from standing as a Labour candidate after 41 years in the role.

Another independent, young British-Palestinian woman Leanne Mohammed challenging Labour’s Wes Streeting in Ilford North, drew attention to the date of the polls and dubbed it “Independent’s Day.”

Kate Dove, Momentum Chair, said: “Let’s get the Tories out. Fourteen years of Conservative austerity have broken Britain: our NHS and public services are starved of funding and on their knees, our privatised water full of sewage, a housing crisis rages on, while the wealthy few laugh their way to the bank.

"Momentum stands with the trade union movement: the first priority is to kick Rishi Sunak out of Downing Street and elect a Labour Government instead to bring our railways back into public ownership and implement a New Deal for Working People. This must be just the first step to the comprehensive social and economic transformation the country is crying out for.

"Our role is clear. In this election Momentum will mobilise to keep out the Tories and elect socialist and trade unionist Labour MPs in their stead, from Zarah Sultana to Ian Lavery, John McDonnell to Apsana Begum. Bring it on.”