Richmond's Rishi Sunak strikes serious tone after completing remarkable comeback as Prime Minister

While Boris Johnson typically got most of the attention over his aborted return to the top of British politics, his old neighbour Rishi Sunak completed a pretty remarkable comeback of his own.

In fact, in keeping with a year when so much has changed so fast, the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire has really pulled off two comebacks in recent months.

His political ambitions were written off in the spring, after revelations over his wife's 'non-dom' tax status and his US green card. There was also confirmation of his fine for breaking Covid rules in Downing Street.

He stayed on as Chancellor, and recovered to get the most votes from Conservatives MPs during the summer's leadership contest.

Party members, however, had the final say and chose Liz Truss at the start of September.

Mr Sunak's defeat then was attributed to many Tories feeling that he had increased taxes, and betrayed Mr Johnson by resigning in July.

During that previous contest, he described Ms Truss' economic plans as a 'fairytale'.

In recent weeks he kept quiet as his warnings were vindicated, and a majority of Conservative MPs accepted he was the man to sort things out.

His victory was confirmed before he had said a word in public, adding to opposition parties’ questions about his mandate, and their calls for a fresh general election.

After a brief and rather awkward speech at Conservative Party HQ on Monday, his big address to the country came on Tuesday morning in Downing Street.

He made clear his focus is on "economic stability", spoke of "mistakes" made under his predecessor’s government and how he would work "to fix them."

More instructive than his words though, was the seriousness of his tone.

We are used to seeing family waves and grins on the steps of Number 10, but Mr Sunak was alone, and barely afforded himself a smile.

Someone shouted: "Cheer up Rishi!"

He was clearly keen to portray himself as a serious Prime Minister for tough times, in contrast to the recklessness that came before him.

His worth ethic has been remarked upon before, and the Stockton South MP Matt Vickers, who worked as Mr Sunak’s political agent and in his office for several years, told me: “Of all the people who I know who will get their head down, get on with it and get the job done, he is the man.”

The risk is that the new PM comes across as a technocrat rather than a leader, and continues to remind voters of his own party's errors.

The opinion polls he inherits are certainly daunting.

The new man also faces ready attack lines, being labelled out-of-touch due to his family’s wealth.

Mr Sunak grew up in Southampton, and married the daughter of an Indian billionaire.

He came to North Yorkshire to win selection as a Conservative candidate ahead of the 2015 general election.

By 2019, he had the biggest majority of any MP in our region.

He has now gone one further than his predecessor in Richmond, William Hague, who got to lead his party but not the country.

The location of his constituency also means Mr Sunak has a connection with the North East, and Teesside in particular.

From his family home close to Northallerton, he takes his daughters to the cinema in neighbouring Darlington.

As Chancellor he spent some time at the fledgling government campus that he chose to locate in the town, while he also picked Teesside for a new low-tax freeport.

Local Tories point to this track record in trying to tackle regional inequalities.

Labour MPs though remind us how he was caught boasting to Conservative party members in the south east this summer that he had redirected funding from “deprived urban areas” while in the Treasury.

In his Downing Street speech, the new Prime made brief reference to the importance of “levelling up”, though without any detail on how he will try to achieve it.

His decision to bring Michael Gove back as Levelling Up Secretary suggests he’s serious about that agenda.

Tuesday’s reshuffle did remove the voices of North East MPs Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Simon Clarke from around the cabinet table.

But, certainly, making the country’s biggest decisions will now be a politician who also has to listen to the priorities of his North Yorkshire constituents.

Mr Sunak is the UK’s first British Asian and first Hindu Prime Minister. At the age of 42, he is the youngest for more than 200 years.

Liz Truss also made history, as the country’s shortest-serving PM, offering a reminder of how quickly things can go wrong.

In part thanks to her government’s actions, her successor faces an even tougher in-tray than she did.

Seven years since Rishi Sunak became an MP, seven weeks since he lost the last leadership contest, the really hard work starts now.

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