Rishi Sunak’s snap election is odd and illogical—much like him

Calling an election earlier than many had expected has some small merit. The inflation figure for the year to April, released earlier in the day, was slightly higher than expected, at 2.3%. Although Mr Sunak claimed victory (“inflation is back to where it should be”) hopes of early interest-rate cuts by the Bank of England, which would relieve pain for mortgage-holders, had gone. Higher borrowing costs also leave little room for another round of tax cuts in the autumn. The main benefit of delaying, at least in the eyes of the government, had disappeared. So why wait?