This is the BBC.

Hello, I'm Nick Robinson and welcome back to the Political Thinking podcast, but one with a bit of a difference, because yes, politics rather change this week, didn't it?

So instead of the long, reflective, non-partisan conversation about issues that might come up in the next few years, we are, of course, having to talk about the election,

but we'll still try to do it in a way that you maybe won't hear every day of the week.

Later in the podcast, I'm going to be talking to a man who knows just what it's like

to be an opposition leader at the beginning of a campaign

who pretty much everyone has written off William Haig.

You have to be utterly, rigorously, ruthlessly consistent to the point of boring yourself to death

as a party leader in an election.

This is what Theresa May is very good at, actually.

She does real discipline in communication.

She can answer questions for hours without revealing anything new.

In the spirit of this podcast, William Hague won't be telling you who he's going to vote for or

what he thinks the result will be, but sparing a thought for what it's like to be Jeremy Corbyn on

the campaign trail and giving us an insight into why Theresa May really called the election this week.

And what a week it has been.

We are live in Downing Street where the Prime Minister is due to make a significant announcement in the next 15 minutes.

Theresa May's statement is unscheduled.

Number 10 have not said what she will say.

I was in a meeting when I got a series of texts from people in the BBC saying,

what's the Prime Minister about to announce?

Because in fact, I was having a discussion about what the latest edition of this podcast

...