Rishi Sunak’s speech shows he is a PM in a hurry

Since Rishi Sunak was briefly pushed into political obscurity last autumn before Liz Truss’ premiership collapsed, his speech at the party convention he never gave had the feel of that speech.

His five promises are an effort to give structure and accountability to his next 12-month term as president.

According to Labour, all of these things were either taking place or were being used to address issues that the Tories had created. This broad perspective might come as a shock to some amid what many regards as the various crises we are currently facing.

But it’s important to keep in mind the peculiarity of how he got the job he’s doing: this is a man who became prime minister in the span of a single blink of an eye and is still making an effort to establish himself in the nation.

Due to the looming election in two years, he also doesn’t have much time to make enough progress.

It should come as no surprise that the prime minister is pressed for time, even if he deliberately avoids the outwardly frantic pace and hustle Liz Truss so self-consciously embraced.

On the other hand, there won’t be nearly as much of an acceleration feeling when we hear from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.

The general election taking place this year is highly improbable, according to Labour strategists; therefore, this is not the time for them to be announcing a tonne of flashy new initiatives.

The temptation for the government to steal a policy increases with how shiny it is. Consequently, it is a more expansive picture of how they contend they would govern more effectively.

With Sir Keir as prime minister, there will be greater talk about dispersing authority from Westminster and avoiding spending splurges.

Labour won’t be “taking its enormous government chequebook out again,” in his words.

With this, Sir Keir seeks to persuade former Conservative supporters that they can put their faith in Labour to handle the economy.

The same area where Mr Sunak took us for his address, Stratford in east London, is where the Labour leader will also be making his argument. Each man is fighting to be seen as the most capable and inspirational manager in a fairly hopeless era.