A Tory member raved about Rishi Sunak’s conference speech when asked to sum it up in three words.
The Express approached delegates at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester and asked them to describe the Prime Minister’s address using only three words.
Attendee Jack Barwell said it was “bold, brave and brilliant” before going on to enthuse about Mr Sunak.
He said “Bold, brave and brilliant I’m going to go for. But if I was allowed to cheat a little bit I’d say going to win because that’s the first time I’ve felt like this guy’s going to win the next general election.
“He was brave and bold because he dissed Tory prime ministers and Labour prime ministers.
“This 30-year thing, Labour were in power for about half of that and we were in power for about half of that. In fact we were probably in power for more than half of that.
“He’s willing to go after people even in our own party to say I am the change guy, I’m going to make sure we do things differently, I’m going to take the bold decisions that no one else has been taking. That’s the kind of guy we want to run this country.
“This next election is between someone who has no policy whatsoever, no vision, won’t even tell us what they do versus a guy that’s being brave, he knows some of what he’s saying isn’t going to be popular.
“We’re standing in Manchester right now and he’s just told them he’s not going to bring them HS2.
“But he knows it’s the right thing for the country and that’s why I love him and that’s why I think he’s going to win.”
Another attendee described Mr Sunak’s speech as “optismistic, ambitious, solid”. A third said: “Kind. Rishi is really thinking about what matters to local people.
“Compassionate. He really understands when people are struggling and wants to do the right thing.
“Considered. He’s really taken time to think about what’s important and formulate a new way forward.”
When asked for three words by the Express, another person said: “Rishi for change.”
A fifth Tory member said “visionary, meaningful and sincere”, while another said “pragmatic, energetic and realistic”.
In his speech to the party faithful, the PM axed the northern leg of HS2, set out a plan to phase out smoking and announced sweeping education reforms as he promised to create a “brighter future for everyone”.
With a general election expected next year, Mr Sunak said he was prepared to change the “broken” political system and offer change.
