Rishi Sunak’s masterstroke was to pledge £36bn in HS2 savings on new travel projects – it may win him next election

RISHI Sunak delivered probably the best conference speech by any party leader since 1997 — mercifully stripped of Tony Blair’s high-flown empty rhetoric.

We may yet look back on this performance as the moment he won next year’s general election.

The stand-out moment came as he axed HS2.

The move outsmarted Labour, which was counting on a so-called “U-turn” to silence criticism of Sir Keir Starmer as a persistent flip-flopper.

Instead, Rishi’s decision to amputate the Birmingham to Manchester leg won an explosion of warm praise from previous critics among northern Tory MPs.

They were gleeful at Rishi’s masterstroke — spending the £36billion in HS2 savings on new east-west rail lines and roads linking northern towns and cities.

How can Starmer attack Rishi for that?

How will he oppose plans to eliminate cigarette smoking which costs the NHS billions?

Or cash for specialist teachers to help children read and count?

Sir Keir is fatally snarled up in Rishi’s barbed wire.