Theresa May's Brexit Motivation, Her Real Reason For Calling A Snap Election

11 November 2017, 11:55

A journalist who covered the election tells Andrew about the Prime Minister's motivations and the BBC presenter who broke protocol by texting out the exit poll results.

Who was to blame for the Tories’ mistakes? How could so many politicians and pollsters fail to see what was coming? And what was the secret of Corbyn’s apparently unstoppable rise?

Tom McTague, political correspondent for Politico, and Tim Ross set out to answer these questions, piecing together the inside story of the most dramatic and important of elections in their book Betting The House.

Tom told Andrew Castle about the real Conservative motivations for calling a snap election: to give them more time to execute Brexit, not wanting to depart the EU so close to the next scheduled election and, as well, the Chancellor's intention to raise taxes.

He divulged the hatred Theresa May's staff for Philip Hammond and the BBC presenter who infuriated his bosses by texting the exit poll results to Number 10, warning of the outcome before they hit the news channels.

Watch the full interview above.