Amid speculation last week that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would call the General Election, there was a big clue local government stalwarts might have spotted.

Liam Booth-Smith, the former head of think-tank Localis who remains Sunak's chief of staff until Parliament's dissolution, was frantically busy around Whitehall that day… and wearing a tie.

For those unfamiliar with Liam's sartorial elegance, this is the senior special adviser who has previously treated Westminster to his John Travolta get-up (open leather jacket, barely buttoned shirt) and numerous other casually attired looks.

So when Rishi's right-hand man appeared in Whitehall looking, well, like the rest of Westminster's suited and booted army, it should have been a sign that something important was brewing.

Daily Mail Whitehall editor, Claire Ellicott, spotted the plot twist.

‘There's a No10 spads meeting at 2pm,' she posted on social media. ‘And Liam Booth-Smith is wearing a tie!'

Informed council types probably hit the bookies long before that…