Rishi Sunak’s first Conservative party conference as prime minister is off to a roaring start. Never one to miss a chance to stick it to his opponents, he marked the occasion by ribbing his opposite number Keir Starmer.

This evening in Manchester Sunak was guest of honour at the 1922 committee and ConservativeHome’s drinks reception. Taking to the podium, the Prime Minister couldn’t resist the opportunity to poke fun at the Labour leader.

Kicking off his speech, he said:

It has been a busy year and we are making a difference, making the right long-term decisions to put our country on a better trajectory and delivering on our five priorities – although after making that speech and setting out those five priorities, I couldn’t help but notice Keir Starmer had to come out with five of his own a month or two later. But I don’t know if you realise, they weren’t particularly as snappy as ours, for those of you who were paying attention.

It’s pretty clear what they are: fuel inflation, grow the unions, reduce policy, cut British energy and, of course, stop the Rayner. So it’s nice to be imitated!

But on a serious note, we should be proud of what we have achieved over the last year, not just stabilising things but passing the toughest ever laws that we’ve seen in parliament to allow us to stop the boats where we’re already making progress – numbers are down by a fifth this year; we passed new minimum safety laws to ensure that the public will not be held ransom by trade union barrons. And just most recently we have set out a new pragmatic, proportionate and realistic path to net zero which commands the support of the British people.

I’m proud of all of that but it goes without saying that I couldn’t have done it without of many of you in this room, in parliament, my colleagues, but also in the wider Conservative family.

So I’m very grateful to you and I want you to see that that’s what you’re going to see from me, that’s what you’re going to see from the government going forward. Cutting through the noise, doing what’s right for the long term, and that’s how we’re going to deliver the chance that this country needs, and at the same time we’re also going to highlight just how disconnected Keir Starmer is from common sense Britain. It is clearer every single week: this is a man so out of touch that he thinks the Angel of the North is a tube station in Islington!

When we face the electorate and you face your constituents, I want to make sure that not only will we have earned the right to be heard, but you will have an incredibly strong Conservative track record to defend and an incredibly inspiring vision of what this party is going to do to change our country for the better.

So let’s get out there and work together and smash that general election!

Rousing stuff!