Sneaky reason Scott Morrison may set May 21 federal election date

The federal election is set to be called any day now and there’s one hidden reason why Scott Morrison may delay going to the polls until May 21.

Scott Morrison has 1366 reasons to delay the election until May 21 – because that’s the number of days he needs to serve as Prime Minister to overtake Labor hero John Curtin’s tenure.

Liberal sources have told news.com.au they believe the election will be called on Sunday, for May 21.

And they believe one of the reasons why the May 21 election date may appeal to Scott Morrison is not simply to subject Labor leader Anthony Albanese to a long, gruelling campaign.

It’s also the weekend that the Prime Minister matches the tenure of John Curtin – the man regarded as Labor’s greatest prime minister.

If he does overtake John Curtin he will become the nation’s 12th longest serving prime minister.

Scott Morrison has already overtaken Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Turnbull.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison may have his eyes on John Curtin’s record. Picture: Damian Shaw

Mr Morrison has been Prime Minister for three years and 225 days as of April 6.

John Curtin served as Prime Minister for three years and 275 days, from 1941 to 1945.

The maths is slightly complicated by leap years – but Mr Morrison appears to equal John Curtin on Sunday, May 21.

He overtakes him on Monday and there is always the slim possibility if there is a hung parliament that Mr Morrison continues in the role while a new government is negotiated – extending his term even further.

The war time leader John Curtin was regarded by former Prime Minister Bob Hawke as “a hero”, who faced enemy attacks on the Australian mainland and the possibility of invasion.

Scott Morrison has already become our longest running Prime Minister since John Howard.

John Curtin was PM for most of WWII. Picture: Supplied

In August, the Prime Minister eclipsed Julia Gillard’s time in office – a record of three years and three days.

The Prime Minister has long been a student of Mr Curtin’s prime ministership, referencing the wartime leader more than a dozen times in press conferences and speeches since 2018.

Most recently, he invoked Mr Curtin’s record with the United States to criticise Paul Keating after he expressed concerns over the AUKUS alliance.

“My government shares the view that I think is grounded in the decisions of Curtin and Menzies, which always understood that our relationship with the United States is a forever relationship,” he said.

Overtaking Mr Curtin is far cry from Mr Morrison’s arrival as the “accidental” Prime Minister, who rose to the job after Peter Dutton’s failed coup on Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership in August 2018.

Despite widespread predictions he would lose the May 2019 election, he declared, “I believe in miracles” on election night after Labor leader Bill Shorten’s defeat.

The longest serving prime minister in Australia was Robert Menzies, followed by John Howard, Bob Hawke and Malcolm Fraser.

But the Prime Minister has previously insisted he’s not counting the days.

“I love doing this job. It’s the great privilege of my life,’’ he said.

“And the best players, whether it’s in AFL or anything, they don’t care how many games they’ve played, they care about how they play the game each and every day.

“And that’s how I approach every single day. Just doing the job with Australians that I have the privilege to do for Australians and to seek their mandate at the next election to keep doing that job for them.”

Originally published as Sneaky reason Scott Morrison may set May 21 federal election date