Mancunian issues dominated Tory conference's opening day. They didn't get a warm welcome

The Conservatives rolled into Manchester under three clouds today for their annual conference.

There was the customary wet Mancunian greeting, with Sunday’s sky fifty shades of grey. There was also the customary protest greeting, as thousands of people marched by the conference in a 'national demonstration' and 'Festival of Resistance' against the party.

But the most troubling cloud for the membership was HS2. The will-they-won’t-they drama over potential plans to pull the plug on the Birmingham to Manchester high speed rail link dominated thinking.

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That was not helped by Rishi Sunak’s inability to give a straight answer on the Laura Kuenssberg BBC show earlier on Sunday (October 1).

It was a simple question for the Prime Minister. On the programme, Ms Kuenssberg asked him: "We are sitting in Salford right next to Manchester, yes or no, will HS2, high-speed rail, come to this part of the world?"

Mr Sunak said: "Look, there's already spades in the ground and we're getting on with delivering it." The presenter then interjected and told the Prime Minister 'that's not my question' while asking him again to answer 'yes or no'.

He replied: "I'm not going to comment on all this speculation. We've got a project, we've got spades in the ground and we're getting on with it but it's right to focus on levelling up."

Ms Kuenssberg then said: "Prime Minister, can I just stop you there? You are the Prime Minister of this country.

"This is not asking you about speculation, you're not a columnist, you're not a backbencher with an axe to grind, you're not someone