sometimes called elections early when seeking a mandate for a change in policy, if they feared that holding the election later would adversely affect their chances of winning or if they wished to benefit from a period of weak support for the opposition. It was thus usual practice for Prime Ministers to "go to the country for a renewed mandate" (call a general election) some time after the fourth anniversary of the previous election. The Prime Minister's announcement on 5 April 2005 that the election would be held on 5 May 2005 meant that the government would be returning to the poll slightly under four years into the parliamentary term, although the previous election had been delayed by a month to take account of the foot and mouth crisis. The date of 5 May coincided with the date set for local elections for county councils in England and local councils in Northern Ireland. The latter had originally been scheduled to take place on 18 May but were brought forward by Northern Ireland Office ministers, adding to the speculation surrounding the 5 May date. The date was suggested on 24 November 2004 by the British newspaper The Sun. The political editor of The Sun, Trevor Kavanagh, seen by many as "Mr Blair's voice in Fleet Street", had correctly 'predicted' the date of the 2001 general election for 7 June 2001 (which, similarly, was also the same date as local elections in England and Northern Ireland for that year). The election announcement The date of the general election had been trailed by the news media for weeks. On 5 April 2005, Blair went to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth II for the dissolution of Parliament. The announcement had been expected on 4 April but following the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April the announcement was delayed by a day as a mark of respect. Instead of campaigning (as was presumably originally planned), Tony Blair attended Vespers in memory of the Pope at Westminster Cathedral on 4 April. Normal convention dictates that the Prime Minister visits the Queen at Buckingham Palace, then makes a formal announcement that the Queen has granted a dissolution, before formally announcing the date of the election at an event later in the day. However, the first person to speak about the election was the Leader of the Opposition, Michael Howard (Conservative), followed soon afterwards