If Peter Sellers were still around, he could play the President to perfection, as a politician who is all at once cunning, witty, naive and triumphant.
The British are deluged with sanctimonious propaganda about the need to save the planet, and China goes on burning coal.
To appreciate the full wonder of this Budget it is necessary, as the Chancellor said, to be an optimist.
Many Tories are alarmed by the tax rises recently announced by the Government, and will be looking for reassurance from Sunak.
The author recounts how, despite the opposition of John Major and Conservative MEPs, he kept Boris Johnson on the candidates’ list.
His compulsion to tell jokes distracts attention from more than half a century of campaigning to save the planet.
The Leader of the Opposition had forgotten that it is his duty to oppose, and sought instead to impose a high moral tone.
She shares with him the ability to throw opponents off balance – and a commitment to levelling up.
But what will be remembered from this brilliant comic performance in which he asserted his personal primacy? Not much, perhaps.
When asked who the best ever holder of her office was, she named the present Prime Minister.
But the Home Secretary found it harder to show that she knows how to stop the people smugglers in the Channel.
He says “our history is the history of freedom”, which includes the freedom to rebel when you think the Government is getting it wrong.
Sunak brought Californian sunshine to the rainy skies of Manchester, while preaching Thatcherite morality.
At the launch of Trusting the People, it became evident that community-powered conservatism already enjoys powerful parliamentary support.
How wonderful to be back at a real conference, but this surprisingly small hall in Manchester is the enemy of rhetoric.