LONDON   -  UK political leaders kicked off six weeks of campaigning on Thursday, firing the first angry shots in their electoral battle before the country votes for a new government on July 4. Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ended prolonged speculation about the general elections in a rainsoaked speech Wednesday outside Downing Street, which some took as an omen for his Conservatives’ chances at the ballot box. Sunak hit the airwaves for a round of radio and television interviews Thursday, before a whistlestop tour of Britain to insist he was right to call the vote.