It's worth remembering another British prime minister, who recently called for a national poll he was confident he would win, and ended up losing everything.
"Brave – and right – decision," David Cameron tweeted on Tuesday upon hearing of Prime Minister Theresa May's call for a snap general election.
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Theresa May gambles on UK election
While Theresa May had downplayed prospects of an election before 2020, the odds are now in the PM's favour, but as Fairfax correspondent Nick Miller explains, framing the snap election in the context of Brexit may have its consequences.
Just a touch of irony there? A reference to the classic Yes Minister quote: "'Controversial' means 'this will lose you votes', 'courageous' means 'this will lose you the election'"?
This is going to be the Brexit election, and Mrs May has chosen her moment to give herself the best chance of a thumping win.
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On the steps of Number Ten, Mrs May made a commendable stab at a regretful, reluctant pose, as she announced a snap election for early June.
As recently as January she firmly told the BBC she would do no such thing – saying, "I think we need that period of time, that stability to deal with the issues the country is facing".
And she turned down the Scots' request for another independence referendum on similar grounds, "right now we should be working together, not pulling apart… all our energies should be focused on our negotiations with the European Union".
Her argument on Tuesday was that she had been forced "recently" into the position of calling the election, because there was so much complaining in Westminster about Brexit – from opposition parties and the "unelected" House of Lords.
It's an odd argument. Labour actually supports Brexit now, though it wants it done a different way. And the House of Lords put up less of a fight than was expected in resisting the Brexit trigger legislation last month.
It's hard to identify a "recent" development that put the government's Brexit plans at risk, other than its own foot-in-mouth moments such as the phoney Gibraltar war.
Broadly, Theresa May's reasons for this election are genuine.
Assuming she wins convincingly, there will be fewer opposition MPs in Westminster who might block or amend the reams of necessary Brexit-related legislation.
Assuming she wins convincingly, she can confidently say she has a mandate from the British people for her vision for the country outside the European Union.
But, specifically, she has without doubt picked this moment because the opinion polls point to a spanking victory, and another decade or more in power.
The latest polls have the Conservatives 21 points ahead of Labour. This is the Conservatives' biggest lead in government since 1983. A recent by-election saw a Labour heartland seat fall to the Conservatives. Labour is a disunited rabble with a desperately unpopular leader.
And the UKIP vote is collapsing after the departure of Nigel Farage with much or all of it likely to flow to the Conservatives in a Brexit election.
Nevertheless, there are some small signs of concern for May.
One poll put the lead over Labour much closer, at 9 per cent. And polls show the public generally like Labour's policies, though they don't see them as a credible government. Labour is in a dire position but a lot of its remaining seats are fairly safe, while many Conservative seats are held on small margins.
Another potential hiccup for May is that the public is more than a little sick of politics right now, which could provoke a backlash or voter apathy.
A BBC reporter got a priceless reaction from Brenda, a voter in Bristol, when he broke the news there would be a general election in June.
"NOT ANOTHER ONE!"
— BBC Three (@bbcthree) April 18, 2017
Brenda is not down with another #GeneralElection. pic.twitter.com/fEzXziYKDJ
"You're joking! Oh for God's sake I honestly can't stand this. There's too much politics going on at the moment, why does she need to do it?"
But the biggest risk for Mrs May is that this is not a straight political fight – so the polls are not good predictors.
She has framed it as Brexit II – The Next Referendum.
She has asked the country if it trusts her to get Brexit right.
But only a third of the British think the government are doing well at negotiating Brexit, while 37 per cent think they are doing badly, according to the most recent polling from YouGov.
Britain is still divided on Brexit itself – 44 per cent think it was the right decision to leave the EU, and 43 per cent think it was wrong.
Most of the country is of the opinion that, once the Brexit referendum results came in, the government should get on with it. But given an election where they get a new choice, many may decide to try to put a stop to it.
If a big anti-Brexit mood sweeps the country in the next month, as it properly focuses on the pluses and minuses for the first time in a year, the Conservatives might find it hard to preserve their majority.
And this election is likely to see a resurgence of the Liberal Democrats, who will campaign hard against Brexit – alongside the Scottish National Party.
May is aware of this. The biggest anti-Brexit constituency in the country is the 18-24 age demographic, and May has called the election right in the middle of exam time. Coincidence? Perhaps not.
Quibbles aside, May is by far the favourite to win this election.
But whether it will be a convincing win is harder to say.
May has rolled the dice for June. Come July, she might be yet another British PM who should have been careful what they wished for.