If Keir Starmer watched Rishi Sunak’s interview, he should be worried

The prime minister came across as confident, polite, focused and articulate. Now he just needs to make progress on his key promises, writes John Rentoul

The prime minister has transformed into a formidable communicator (PA)

The prime minister is a formidable communicator. It was less than four years ago that he first came to the nation’s attention, when Boris Johnson sent him, the most junior member of the cabinet, as his representative for the TV leader debates in the last general election.

I said at the time that he “sounded like a satnav reading out a Tory press release”, and that Rebecca Long-Bailey, sent by Jeremy Corbyn to represent the leader of the opposition, sounded “more prime ministerial”.

He sounds different now, and today’s 35-minute interview with Paul Goodman, editor of Conservative Home, the Tory activists’ website, offered a preview of the next election campaign. If Keir Starmer was watching, he should have been alarmed – his opponent came across as confident, polite, focused and articulate.