Far from the bedraggled figure who announced an election outside No 10, Rishi Sunak positively bounced into a biscuit factory for his first stump speech of the election campaign.
He had given a tetchy performance on the broadcast round on Thursday morning, bristling at those challenging his economic record and failure to carry out his Rwanda plan.
But, sleeves rolled up, Sunak had a spring in his step as he approached a large audience wearing hi-vis vests to set out his stall in the marginal seat of Erewash in Derbyshire.
“I got our country through Covid, and that’s because I was prepared to do some bold things and I was prepared to do some difficult things,” he told the crowd, stressing his own record rather than that of the Conservatives.
The prime minister may have been feeling extra-confident because of the number of friendly faces in the audience. “Who’s got some hands up? Brilliant, let’s go!” he chirped.
Answering the questions, he gave a series of mini-lectures on his favoured topics – getting the Rwanda scheme off the ground to prevent “queue jumpers”, slowing down the pace of reaching net zero emissions, and how he has brought down inflation.
He then answered a query on how he likes to relax at times of stress with a lengthy aside on why it is necessary to toughen disability benefits for people with mental health conditions.
Only later did it emerge that at least two of the questions came from Conservative councillors, nestled among the warehouse workers wearing company-branded fluorescent jackets.
One question, at least, came from an employee at the distribution centre. That was Mick Shergold, 68, a warehouse supervisor. He had been waiting 12 weeks for a prostate test and his wife three years for medical treatment, so what Sunak would do to bring down waiting times?
Sunak acknowledged this was an area where he felt he could have made “more progress” but he blamed the problem on the Covid pandemic and strikes by medical workers.
Despite his unhappiness about the NHS, Shergold later told reporters said he would still vote for Sunak as he liked what he had to say about immigration and the economy, adding: “I don’t trust Keir Starmer.”
Sunak had barely been in the room for half an hour, stopping for selfies as he left, before he was off for his next visit on his whistle-stop tour of the UK.
At the same time, in Gillingham in Kent, Starmer was also sounding fired-up as he launched Labour’s first day of campaigning at a football club.
In front of supporters waving union flag placards promoting Labour’s “change” slogan, Starmer hammered home his message that voting for his party was a “vote to stop the chaos”.
“Here’s the good news: you don’t have to put up with this,” he said. “The power of the vote means you can vote Labour to turn the page and to make the change this country so desperately, desperately needs. Change is hard … but all we ask now, humbly, is the opportunity to change our country and put it back in the service of working people.”
He was met with whoops and cheers from Labour’s supporters at this message – and the dawning realisation within his party that victory after 14 years of Conservative-led government is within touching distance.
The theme of change was embraced across the other opposition parties, with Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, mirroring Starmer with his refrain that the election was “our chance to win the change our country desperately needs”.
“These Conservatives have got to go,” he said at an event in Cheltenham, where the party is challenging the Tory justice secretary, Alex Chalk. “And in so many parts of the country, we have shown that it is the Liberal Democrats who can get them out.”
Sunak, for his part, was convinced his message of “sticking to the plan” would cut through with voters. Having flown by plane to south Wales, en route to Scotland, then Northern Ireland, the prime minister was still sounding chipper as he visited a brewery in Barry.
Like his visit to Derbyshire, it was very short and heavily controlled by the party. Wales Online reported that invited Welsh media were not allowed their own photography and video, and there should be no questions about national issues.
Despite the attempt to steer the visit his way, the prime minister was tripped up by small talk, as he asked the staff if they were looking forward to “all the football”. It was swiftly pointed out that Wales did not qualify for the Euros. For Sunak, it was lucky that he was moving quickly on.
