In a past political universe, the Conservatives spoke of winning Labour MP Dennis Skinner’s seat of Bolsover. But as Black Rod summoned MPs to the Lords for the Queen’s Speech, there the Beast was heckling away as usual: “Get yer skates on, the first race is at half post two,” he remarked of Ascot.
This was not the occasion that Theresa May wanted. When the Prime Minister called an early general election on that now-distant April day, she was hopeful of winning the Conservatives’ first landslide majority since 1987. She ended up without one at all.
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