The Labour Party is gearing up to fight an election in 2023, the Mirror understands.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has instructed the party machine to get ready for Boris Johnson going to the polls a year early.
Senior party figures believe the Prime Minister won't want to give voters too much time to reflect on his time in office.
Mr Johnson made big promises on 'levelling up' ahead of the 2019 election and is expected to blame slow progress on the pandemic.
But Labour believes the electorate - already facing cost of living pressures in coming months - will quickly run out of patience.
So they are readying themselves for the PM kicking off an election campaign in just 18 months time.
One senior source said: "We've got to be ready to fight an election a year early.
"We fully expect the Tories to realise that if they go full term, the electorate will see what a mess they've made of things.
"So we're going to be full speed ahead now on making sure that everything is in place".
Tory chair Oliver Dowden yesterday refused to rule out a 2023 election amid speculation Mr Johnson wants to secure himself a second term sooner rather than later.
At the last election the Tories won power until 2024, when Mr Johnson secured an 80-strong majority and Labour suffered its worst election defeat since 1935.
Asked if there would be a contest in 2023, Mr Dowden said: "The PM has told me to make sure that the Conservative Party machine is ready to go for an election whenever it comes."
Pressed again, he added: “Right now, we are absolutely focused on getting on with the job of making sure that we deliver for the British people”.
Another Labour source added: “We’ll be ready for the election whenever it comes. Johnson can see Starmer is sorting out the Labour Party and Johnson has no plan so we don’t think he will go the distance.”
