In politics as in war, an ambush can be a devastatingly effective tactic. Catching your opponent off-guard and out of position has often seen underdogs overcome mightier opponents and reverse the direst of fortunes.

This seems to have been the logic – such as there was – of Rishi Sunak’s decision to call the general election for 4 July. But it increasingly looks as though it will prove a self-inflicted wound of historic proportions.

Conservative party headquarters’ attempt to set the pace in the first week, with the big announcement on national service, did not shift the dial; Nigel Farage, who by autumn might have been safely ensconced in a lucrative contract covering the US election, had time to be guilted into standing.

But perhaps most important, a surprise attack only works if you take the other side by surprise. The prime minister’s decision was such a well-guarded secret (or made in such a hurry) that when he announced it in Downing Street, he sprang a trap on his own party – and the result has been devastating for already-shaky Tory morale.

With candidates not even selected in well over 100 constituencies when the election was called, a desperate scramble to get people selected has left would-be candidates and local associations bruised and bitter; the use of novel procedures to impose Richard Holden, the party chairman, on a safe seat is widely seen as emblematic of CCHQ’s........

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