‘It’s not going to happen’ said Downing Street about rumours of a snap election.

But in days, our strong and stable Prime Minister had changed her mind and Brenda from Bristol, along with most of the nation, was saying ‘You’re joking! Not another one!’

Now we’ve embarked on the most pointless and unnecessary General Election since Ted Heath took on the miners in 1974 (Go Google, the miners won).

SEE ALSO: How will your area vote in the General Election 2017?

Here in Watford, Richard Harrington is seeking to retain the seat he won in 2010 and 2015.

This time last year, he was campaigning to Remain in the European Union: he warned us that bad times were around the corner should we be so foolish as to turn our backs on our links with Europe.

But times (along with a politician’s flaky principles) move on, and now he wants us to support the Government in taking us out of Europe. At least, I think that’s what he wants us to do, but his support for the Government line is so muted that it’s difficult to know.

His campaign leaflet, modestly entitled ‘My Plan For Watford’, contains only one mention of the word ‘Brexit’ – he writes ‘This election isn’t just about Brexit’, while in the flyer delivered in Tudor he can’t bring himself to use the ‘B’ word but coyly refers to ‘forthcoming negotiations’.

Come on, man, say what you mean. Are you hard enough?

He is, though, a keen supporter of Mrs. May – as she was rejoicing with her supporters after the Premiership fell into her lap as her opponent withdrew, there in the back row of the photo was a beaming Mr Harrington with a wide ‘Gizza job’ grin.

And, lo, he was appointed Minister for Pensions in days! So if you’re a pensioner and worried that the Government will back track on the triple lock which guarantees your pension, he’s the man to ask….. but I’ll guarantee you won’t get a straight answer.

Labour’s candidate is Chris Ostrowski, a veteran of three Parliamentary elections.

His record is Played 3 Won 0 Drawn 0 Lost 3, and, saddled with a leader of Jeremy Corbyn’s appeal, that record is likely to get worse. Labour’s manifesto promises would assure him of success in Cloud Cuckoo Land but probably not here in Watford. In real life, he teaches English as a Foreign Language, but it looks like ‘no hope’ in any language.

The Lib Dems’ local fortunes have been in freefall ever since the last General Election when their candidate, a household name in Watford for 13 years, limped home a poor third behind Mr Harrington and an unknown local Labour councillor.

The fantasy Watford ‘Health’ Campus is now even more improbably out of sight, while the Lib Dems were dealt a body blow by the scrapping of the Met Line Extension on which the LibDem Council had unwisely wasted millions of pounds of Council Tax payers money.

Their candidate is Ian Stotesbury. Last month he contested seats on both Watford Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council (doing two jobs at the same time is a Lib Dem speciality in Watford). On Friday, the Observer carried his letter of thanks to his supporters (‘best ever set of results etc’) but unaccountably it failed to contain the information that he had been rejected by voters in both elections.

If he fails on June 8, there may not be another letter but to lose three elections in the space of six weeks would certain ensure a mention in The Book of Heroic Failures. His day job is designing spacecraft – he stands more chance of flying to the moon than being our MP.

UKIP’s candidate Ian Green will cut a sorry sight after the Tories have hijacked the principles on which his party achieved so much national success. But UKIP may still have a role to play when, as is inevitable, the cold reality of the terms which the EU will impose on us begin to kick in. And who in Parliament will then speak up for the true Brexiteers? No MPs and no Lord Farage!

The Green candidate Alex Murray will be talking more common sense and with greater honesty than any other candidate in the coming weeks. We all agree with the Green Party, but we won’t vote for them because they won’t get enough MPs to be effective. What a pity for them, and for us and our children, that the Tories and Labour are so terrified of proportional representation!

Mrs. May said she wanted an increased majority now to strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations. But have we heard anything in the campaign about what terms she is seeking? No, of course not, and nor shall we. But as a shrewd politician she knows that there isn’t going to be a better time to call an election. She wouldn’t want to be remembered as the PM who never won an election.

I hope this letter helps you in deciding what to do on June 8. Me? I shall finish watching The Ring Cycle on iPlayer… it finishes with the end of the world!

Anthony Bramley-Harker, Hibbert Avenue, Watford