A POLITICAL pundit is not the easiest of jobs. They got forecasts for the Scottish referendum wrong, then followed that up with the 2015 general election, the EU referendum and the Trump victory in the United States.

It has become a case of expect the unexpected, but few general elections were as big a surprise as Theresa May's decision this week.

The snap election has gone down surprisingly well in Europe. This is because over Brexit most member states want to negotiate with a strong leader, and not one controlled by fringe elements in their party or parliament. This is as much true whether rebels are pro or anti-Brexit.

Despite what some have suggested, this is not about clearing the decks so the Conservative party can deliver a hard Brexit – one without tariff free access to the Single Market of the EU-27. It is more about being able to negotiate from a position of strength, and that could be good news for the farming industry. The phoney war is over, and the Brexit negotiations can become real, with a focus on the issues important to the UK economy.

Elections are always an opportunity for parties to set out their manifesto commitments, and for farmers this is important. There were vague details, in the past, about what national parties would deliver for agriculture and the environment, but now this is for real. Parties will have to set out how they see the post-Brexit future.

This is important in this election, because we largely know – unless the polls are horrendously wrong – which party will make up the next Westminster government. In Scotland things are likely to stay as they are, with the SNP dominant, but the Brexit game is largely at Westminster. This makes what the Conservatives say about agriculture and trade negotiations vital.

If the farming lobby exerts sufficient pressure now, it should be able to see what the next government's blueprint for agriculture really is.

If this proves to be another wishy-washy list of aspirations about trade, ask your local candidate what he or she is going to do about getting the government to take agriculture seriously. Equally, when it comes to trade, more is needed about how markets will be established, rather than claims that the whole world beyond the EU-27 is lining up to do trade deals with the UK.

Hopefully this will tease out whether the government will insist on deals that protect food and agriculture against cheap imports, by at least imposing parallel quality standards. These are key issues, and they will have to be addressed before there can be a final Brexit deal.

The general election will also create an opportunity for a cabinet reshuffle. It will be an opportunity for Theresa May to create her own team, with no baggage from the past administration – and no scores to settle against those who failed to support her run for party leader.

It would be good to see new faces at Defra for the negotiations that lie ahead. Farmers need someone who has a vision of what farming and food deliver for the UK economy, and of what they could deliver if given the right incentives. They need ministers enthused with the idea of creating a new UK agricultural policy that distances itself from the CAP and the excessive regulation that persuaded so many farmers to vote to leave the EU. Above all it needs a minister at Defra who sees the post as an opportunity to drive a great industry, and not one dissatisfied that they did not get a more important post in government.

It is an old saying that the only time politicians pay heed to the voters is when they want to get elected. Farmers now have a golden opportunity to apply pressure, and to force politicians to say what they will deliver. That is as true in Scotland as it is in the rest of the UK. Farmers can use the election campaign to make clear that they expect better in the remaining years of CAP payments.

It is far from certain, despite a massive lead in the polls, that this will be a landslide election victory for the Conservatives. The Tory majority depends on Scotland remaining SNP, and on the Liberal Democrats remaining a spent-force. If that changes, all bets will be off – but for now the safe bet has to be on watching what the Tories put, or do not put, in their manifesto about agriculture.