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Rishi Sunak wanted to cancel plans to call a general election in July but was forced to go ahead because the King had already been informed, an explosive new book is expected to claim.
According to an early draft of The Fall by former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, the Conservative leader had a “wobble” over the move just days before his rain-soaked announcement outside Downing Street on May 22.
But by that time the Palace had already been alerted that King Charles would be in London to dissolve Parliament.
To further complicate matters, police were already taking security measures for the opening days of the Conservative election campaign.
Sources also told Dorries that two journalists had been briefed on the plan and said they would write that Sunak had “bottlenecked” the decision if he moved the date to the autumn.
Rishi Sunak almost botches a summer election, bombshell book expected to claim
Sunak was “forced to take part in an inquiry on 4 July” because the king had already been informed, Nadine Dorries’ book Downfall is expected to say.
The new claims add fuel to evidence of deep divisions within the former prime minister’s team over the timing of the vote.
The surprise decision to call an election on July 4, rather than the planned date for sometime in the autumn, was opposed by many of Sunak’s advisers – including his campaign manager, Isaac Levido – and almost all Conservative MPs.
He was backed by a small group of his closest aides, including James Forsyth, Sunak’s political secretary and a friend since their schooldays together at Winchester College.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden argued the survey should be held earlier in the year on the basis that an average of 135,000 homeowners were exiting low-rate fixed-term mortgages each month, adding hundreds of pounds to their bills.
There was also a growing likelihood that legal challenges to the government’s plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda would render the flagship policy obsolete.
Levido responded that waiting until the autumn would give the Bank of England time to cut interest rates, a process it has already begun. It would also allow voters to feel the benefit of cuts in National Insurance rates, he argued.
The election sparked tensions between Number 10 and Buckingham Palace, with the King reportedly irritated that an emergency Cabinet meeting called to seal the July 4 date clashed with a scheduled meeting of the Privy Council.
The election sparked tensions between Number 10 and Buckingham Palace, with the King reportedly upset that an emergency Cabinet meeting was called to seal the election date.
When Charles arrived at the meeting, he found that Lord President of the Council, Penny Mordaunt, was the only member of the Cabinet present.
Following protocol, Carlos cancelled or postponed many engagements that coincided with the campaign.
Downfall, due out in November, is the follow-up to The Plot, Dorries’ best-selling account of “the movement” of shadowy Tory figures who secretly worked to overthrow Boris Johnson.
The book will focus on the period between Sunak’s accession to No 10 and the Conservative Party’s crushing election defeat.
Ms Dorries said: ‘I am once again using the voices of those close to power to tell the story in their own words, no spin, no agenda, no gain for taxpayers, just the plain truth that lifts the lid on what was really taking place behind the scenes.’
A Conservative spokesman has been contacted for comment.
