Theresa May must love gambling

Only the bravest of the brave should ever take up an offer to play poker with Theresa May. Not only would predicting her moves be impossible, but she appears to have gambling in her blood.

Yesterday the Prime Minister caught the world off guard with the announcement of a snap election. There had been speculation that an early poll would be both winnable and advantageous but Mrs May had given us a pledge it would not happen.

That was four weeks ago, an eon in modern politics. Now she has changed her mind and we are headed for the polling booths, again.

The spectacular U-turn has also revealed that the Prime Minister is prepared to risk everything on what she thinks is a winning hand.

However, victory in the poll will not be enough to put her in a better position. She must also confine Ukip to the fringes of politics in England again, silence her backbench critics with a big majority and hope that voters in Scotland use the poll to deliver a rebuke to the SNP over the prospect of a second independence referendum. Add to that the dangers of putting Northern Ireland on a path to constitutional change and it is plain to see how much will be being wagered on June 8.

If Mrs May achieves all that, she will be able to dispatch her negotiating team to Brussels with a healthy mandate to win a good Brexit deal safe in the knowledge that there is no Remain stalking horse able to derail the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.

In Scotland, as usual, the debate will be framed around independence. The SNP are still riding high in the polls but anything less than 56 out of the 59 seats going their way could be seen as a reaction to the prospect of another referendum. On the other hand, if Nicola Sturgeon’s party secure 56 or more, then it will become a near certainty to happen in the next two years.

In the meantime, the poor voter must thole another round of campaigning. One small mercy may be that most political parties are running low on funds. This could be the shortest and cheapest campaign so far.