I don't think so. I reckon it was an attempt to do two things that would have been useful to Mrs May.
First, increase the Conservative majority, so as to have some more margin when random Tory MPs threw wobblers over some detail of Brexit.
Second, move the election date. The Tories were elected in May 2015, so the next election would be in May 2020. Brexit is due in March 2019. Planning to have an election 14 months later poses a risk that voters will be unhappy about short-term economic instability. Moving the election two-and-a-bit years later improves the odds that things will have stabilised.
Of course, screwing up the election messes all this up.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2017-10-27 07:39 pm (UTC)First, increase the Conservative majority, so as to have some more margin when random Tory MPs threw wobblers over some detail of Brexit.
Second, move the election date. The Tories were elected in May 2015, so the next election would be in May 2020. Brexit is due in March 2019. Planning to have an election 14 months later poses a risk that voters will be unhappy about short-term economic instability. Moving the election two-and-a-bit years later improves the odds that things will have stabilised.
Of course, screwing up the election messes all this up.