Rishi Sunak’s election call makes no sense, but is good news

An old axiom of British politics is that the Conservative Party is ruthless in its pursuit of power. Lately it has seemed relentlessly focused on losing it. It has purged talented MPs who did not toe the ideological line on Brexit, a cause that a majority of voters now think was wrong. In Boris Johnson, it picked a leader manifestly unsuited for high office. In Liz Truss, it installed the shortest-lived prime minister in British history and the person who shredded the party’s reputation for economic competence. Now, after taking a long, hard look into the electoral abyss, it has gone ahead and jumped.