Six months ago, the Prime Minister, Theresa May, spoke about her commitment to the "just about managing", the poor as well as the rich, and to tackling the "burning injustices" of social and economic inequality. The need for national consensus in the wake of the Brexit referendum and a revival of one nation conservatism. She made great capital about the steadfast and steady leadership she would provide and the cynicism and opportunism of those encouraging her to call an early election. The country she argued could not risk the instability that would inevitably cause!
Understandably Tuesday's announcement of a General Election on 8 June caught many by surprise. In contrast to her often quoted prime ministerial predecessor, this lady certainly is for turning, especially when the fruits of our electoral system beckon so strongly.
It seems that building a national consensus and safeguarding the country against political and economic instability are of scant importance, especially when compared to the prospect of locking out opposition to a hard Brexit whilst burying the Conservative Party election expenses scandal.
Tuesday's announcement is political game playing of the highest and most deplorable order. A cold and calculated attempt, less than a year since her leadership success and not two years since the last general election to create political advantage from uncertainty.
Theresa May and the Conservative Party have shown their true colours. After seven years of Tory austerity let us be in no doubt what a further term of office would mean.
This is a government that is dedicated to exploiting division not healing it.
I represent Bradford West. I have sought to work tirelessly on behalf of all the people living in a constituency that I was born in, grew up in and have lived in all my adult life. There are things a working class woman from west Bradford knows in her heart and can see with her own eyes that no Tory election spin can hide.
Since 2010 the Tories have imposed an agenda of economic austerity with unswerving disregard for its impact on the people of my home city. The simple fact is that Tory policies have hit the poorest people in the poorest places hardest. Those least able to cope with the loss of public services live in the areas where they have been cut most.
The Tories told us that savings could be made with cuts to top heavy management but it's clear that its front line services that are now in a state of collapse. Those working in schools, hospitals, social services or the police work longer hours and carry a greater workload as they desperately strive to shield the most vulnerable from the full impact of Tory cuts.
These cuts to management are so extreme that strategic and organisational capacity are undermined. The impact hits working class communities hardest. They make the greatest use of public services and notice what are initially presented as small changes to hours, waiting times, and cost. The effect is cumulative and disproportionate. When allied to a world of employment that is increasingly precarious and uncertain, where wages have stagnated for years and employment rights feel like a thing of the past, Theresa May's hypocrisy is staggering.
There is an alternative. We need to start funding the public sector again, and we need to rebalance between investment and saving. We need to listen to alternatives because austerity has not worked. Debt is higher, borrowing is higher, and we have paid enough of a price for this government's failure to deliver.
The time for bleak, pessimistic austerity from Tory governments is over.
It has bought the NHS to its knees, stripped local government of vital resources, decimated school funding and put immense pressure on those who were struggling the most.
This is a chance for optimism. It is chance for us to want better, we deserve better. Better for ourselves and better for the next generation. It is a chance to make a change. This is your opportunity to vote for it.
Naz Shah is the Labour MP for Bradford West