Under the terms of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, two-thirds of MPs would need to vote for an election to make it happen. The day after May’s announcement, MPs voted by 522 votes to thirteen to approve the election. Nine Labour MPs defied Jeremy Corbyn’s edict to back the motion, while the SNP abstained. A secret Tory contingency plan – to pass a one-line Bill by simple majority mandating an election on 8 June – was not required. When May was interviewed by the Today programme that morning she admitted, ‘Every election has a risk.’ But none of her senior staff seriously believed it. Perrior
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