Rishi’s media round derailed by HS2

Ah the regional BBC round: the chance for any aspiring local reporter to make a name for themselves. Every year, in the run-up to Tory conference, the party leader must subject themselves to this ritual piñata, in which they face a barrage of quick-fire questions from journalists across the country. Last year it was Liz Truss’s turn to face eight such grillings in under an hour, in which she was asked if she was ‘ashamed’ of her mini-Budget and accused of being a ‘reverse Robin Hood’.

This time Rishi Sunak didn’t endure such a battering, though the PM would no doubt squirm if he listened back to his cross-examination on the future of high-speed rail. Appearing on BBC Manchester, Sunak repeatedly refused to answer questions on whether he will scrap the HS2 line to, er, Manchester. Host Anna Jameson said ‘We’re straight talking people in the North, it’s a yes or a no, are you scrapping the HS2 to line between Birmingham and Manchester?’ Sunak chose to, um, not answer directly, airily claiming that ‘I’m not speculating on future things’ before segueing into a riff on potholes.