Breaking news - the boil is lanced
Finally, the long-awaited announcement has been made; Rishi Sunak has called the General Election for 4th July.
We now have a distinct possibility of bringing fourteen years of Tory (mis)rule to an end - bring it on! It's been an agonisingly long time coming but we are closer to it now than for a very long time. Not that it's a done deal, of course, a lot could still go awry (think 1992) but we can only hope - and vote - for it.
As 'Things can only get better' blared out from a protester's sound system beyond the gates of Downing Street, almost drowning out Sunak at his podium, the torrential rain did likewise. Talk about a damp squib - Sunak looked more like a drowned rat. If it was an augury, it was certainly an ominous one. Though he looked like a man who has lost the will to go on Sunak said he would fight for every vote. He will need to. We are now into the long campaign.
Believe me, it will feel v-e-r-y long.