Rishi Sunak’s top aides advised against early election, memo reveals

Isaac Levido and Michael Brooks warned ex-PM on 3 April voters ‘less likely to feel financially optimistic’.

Rishi Sunak’s top aides advised him not to call an early election, warning him that voters would be less likely to feel “financially optimistic” in the summer and that Conservatives would not be able to “hit Labour hard with both fists”.

Isaac Levido, who directed the election campaign for the Conservatives, and Michael Brooks, a Tory strategist, issued the warning to the former prime minister in a blunt memo on 3 April, seven weeks before the election was called.