IT was the announcement no-one expected. After a long bank holiday weekend Theresa May stepped out of Downing Street to announce she was calling a snap election.

It definitely rated as something of a political coup - although pundits were quick to point out that she had frequently ruled out going to the country because it would be disruptive.

Kent MPs emerged blinking into the daylight from the dark of Parliament to try to find different ways of saying they were surprised.

They were quickly on message, however - emphasising that going to the country would give the PM a “strong mandate” - not just any old mandate, of course - when it came to negotiating withdrawal from the EU.

Although that rather assumed victory was in the bag so to avoid looking complacent, they all said they were not complacent...

RATHER predictably, the former UKIP leader Nigel Farage was quickly dominating the headlines with hints he might be up for a re-match against his old enemy Craig Mackinlay in South Thanet.

Ever the artful politician, he kept the “will he, won’t he” game going all week - ensuring he was in the limelight just as much as any of the party leaders.

As speculation reached fever pitch, he finally declared that perhaps he’d be better off fighting the Brexit corner from Broadstairs rather than Brussels. It wasn't exactly the most compelling argument.

And was nothing to do with concern that he might lose at the eighth attempt to land a seat on the Green benches.

WATCH: Kent's politicians react to the news of a snap election - a special edition of "Paul On Politics on KMTV : http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kmtv/paul-on-politics-special-general-election-2017-edition-7845/

WHICH naturally brings us to the Green party in Canterbury and a cunning plan to oust sitting MP Sir Julian Brazier from the constituency he has represented since 1987, when Margaret Thatcher - yes, Maggie - was PM.

Why not field a “progressive alliance” candidate drawn from the Green party, Labour and the Lib Dems? The arithmetic looked good - add up their votes in 2015 and guess what? Sir Julian would have lost by 175 votes.

The only problem? Labour and the Lib Dems would not play ball.

As to Sir Julian's unruffled response? "I've never taken my electorate for granted...I'll be making my pitch and the others will do the same."

BACK in South Thanet, Conservative Craig Mackinlay learned he was being spared a re-run of his attritional 2015 battle with Nigel Farage.

But he still has a cloud hanging over him - the as yet unresolved inquiry into the party’s election expenditure during the 2015 campaign. Was he worried? Not one bit.

“I have done nothing wrong and acted honestly and properly throughout the campaign so no, I'm not concerned at all.”

Perhaps he was bullish because the PM had given a vote of confidence to MPs facing similar expenses claims when tackled in the Commons about the issue.

THE Liberal Democrats in Kent picked up a handy endorsement from a former Kent Labour MP.

Barrister Bob Marshall-Andrews who represented Labour for 13 years in the Medway seat announced he was supporting the Lib Dems.

Voters should either vote for Tim Farron's lot or a candidate that had the best chance of ousting a sitting Conservative, he declared - although in some Kent seats that might mean voting for his former party.

Would he be standing as a candidate though? Definitely not “but I’ll do anything they want from me.” Stand by for licking a lot of envelopes, then.

The former MP memorably declared in 2005 - live on television - that he had lost his seat thanks to Tony Blair's decision to go to war with Iraq.

The only problem? The result hadn't been declared. When it was, he'd won by 213 votes.

ASHFORD MP Damian Green is becoming a familiar face on our TV screens charged, it seems, with the job of unofficial election spin doctor for the party.

He’s a good choice. He used to be a journalist, is not easily ruffled and even-tempered. The fictitious spin doctor Malcolm Tucker from the TV series “The Thick Of It” is definitely not a role model.

Such was the surprise at the news that we are to have a snap election that many of the other parties have yet to select candidates.

Ukip is busy arranging a kind of national hustings this week to pick its candidates.

We hear rumours that the leader of Thanet council Chris Wells fancies his chances in South Thanet while Henry Bolton, the party's candidate in the crime commissioner election, could be in the running for a tussle with Damian Collins in Folkestone and Hythe.

We are only in week one of the campaign and already, candidates are clogging up social media with posts to Twitter and Facebook with entirely redundant "news" that they are "getting a fantastic reception on the doorstep."

As if any candidate was likely to declare in public that they'd had a dreadful response and feared that they were going to lose...