Rishi Sunak’s ‘address to the nation’ was little more than a party political broadcast - Bill Carmichael

So I settled down to watch, keen to discover precisely who we’d be fighting on the beaches this time around, only to be relieved and disappointed in equal measure.

The important sounding “address to the nation” was a little oversold, and turned out to be little more than a party political broadcast on behalf of the Conservative Party, with nothing new in it. Phew! Thank heavens for that.

And it quickly became clear that Mr Sunak, MP for Richmond in Yorkshire, though a capable and clever man, is no match for Churchill in terms of oratory - or even Johnson for that matter.

He sat with a stiff posture and glassy-eyed stare focused on the middle distance, and delivered his script with all the animation of the speaking clock.

There was talk of a tough winter and the fact we are facing some of our biggest challenges, and of the damage inflicted on our economy by Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression on Ukraine, and on the NHS by the Covid outbreak.

There was a little bit of personality and warmth injected into the narrative with family photographs illustrating Sunak’s back story - his father was a family doctor and his mother a pharmacist - no doubt emphasising his personal family links with the health service.

When looking at politics I like to think I am sceptical, rather than cynical, so when he spoke of getting NHS waiting lists down and added: “I will not let you down,” I didn’t doubt his sincerity for an instant.

He also made some bold pledges as far as illegal immigration is concerned, saying the small boat crossings over the Channel “will stop” and adding: “If you come here illegally you will not have the right to stay.”

He has his work cut out on this one, given the mass ranks of the establishment determined to thwart any effective control of our borders, but I wish him the best of luck.

But given that Labour is consistently something like 20 points ahead of the Conservatives, and that Sir Keir Starmer is odds on to become our next Prime Minister, it is hard to see what Sunak can do to turn things around.

The most impressive part of the Prime Minister’s broadcast this week was an understanding of the issues most concerning ordinary voters and a relentless focus on three things - the economy, the NHS and border security.

The contrast with Sir Keir’s speech last week couldn’t be sharper. The Labour leader delivered an inchoate and vacuous speech that lacked both practical detail and any vision of what a future Labour government would look like.

Preposterously, he shamelessly stole the successful Brexit slogan of “taking back control”. This shows some brass neck, particularly given that Sir Keir was at the forefront of a disgraceful campaign to undermine our democracy by overturning the 2016 referendum result. The details were absent, but this seemed to involve moving more power from Westminster to the regions, which is a laudable aim but hardly something near the top of the public’s priorities in this time of crisis.

Sir Keir was reluctant to commit to any further spending commitments, warning that Labour “would not be getting its big government cheque book out”.

Perhaps Sir Keir is wise to be cautious, but there is a danger that this caution risks becoming something more damaging to his electoral prospects - complacency.

There was the feeling that the Labour leader believed he had got the next election in the bag, and all he had to do was to stroll towards the finishing line with Mr Sunak puffing in his wake.

That is a great danger for Labour. On the surface their lead in the polls is impressive, but it is also shallow, with no great enthusiasm for the party or Sir Keir.

A lot can happen in the next 12 months and if Mr Sunak can make any progress on his priorities - the economy, the NHS and safe borders - the electoral landscape may look very different. One thing is for sure, given the state of the polls, if Mr Sunak can avoid electoral disaster for the Conservatives in the next election, it will be the greatest act of escapology since Harry Houdini was in his pomp.