Is Mitt Romney behind Akshata Murthy’s appearance?

Is Akshata Murthy using the Ann Romney playbook? Rishi Sunak’s wife made an unexpected appearance on the main stage at Conservative party conference, delivering a speech that she insisted was even a surprise for the Prime Minister. This wasn’t just an introduction to her husband’s speech. It was ten minutes of glowing remarks about Sunak, dating back to when they met as students in California, noting the ‘aspiration’ he had ‘to build for a better country’ at the age of 24.

Murthy’s remarks were the kind that are usually given by a presidential candidate’s partner at the Republican or Democratic Convention, where it is the job of the spouse to highlight the personal, more relatable side of the candidate. It’s a staple in US politics, but almost non-existent in the UK. Murthy’s comments this morning – about her husband’s love of rom coms (‘the cheesier the better’) and about ‘his strength of character, his honesty, his integrity with a firm understanding of right from wrong’ –  are nothing short of an American import.