One of the oddities of the British political system is that the party in power has the option of calling an election at any time in its five-year reign; generally speaking, the earlier the election the more confident the government, and the more off-balance the opposition. If the prime minister clings on to power like a drowning man, everyone knows when the election will be, and so the parties are at liberty to start their campaign months before parliament is dissolved. The 2010 election campaign has been the longest in living memory.
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