He wouldn’t be much fun over dinner, but at least he’d split the bill fairly!

No doubt Rishi Sunak will get a load of stick for the promotional video he released yesterday afternoon, formally announcing his bid to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

All the clever wags on Twitter will laugh and point; witty commentators will take the mickey out of his wooden, rather patronising delivery; the chatterati will sneer at the cheesy production values and his so-bad-it’s almost-good ‘Ready4Rishi’ campaign slogan.

And yes, perhaps it is just a tad too American-style for a British market but what can you do: We live in the internet age.

Personally, I think it’s quite sweet. Which is not perhaps the look he’s going for but nevertheless there you have it. Because in a week where cynicism in politics has been off the scale, there is just something refreshingly wholesome about its earnest optimism.

‘Honesty’, he intones gravely, as the camera cuts to a shot of Rishi looking honest in a community hall somewhere. ‘Seriousness,’ he says momentously, as the camera cuts to a shot of Rishi, chin in hand, looking serious. And finally: ‘Determination.’ Yes, you guessed it: Cut to a shot of Rishi doing some very determined-looking pointing.

GoD love him. It’s very Rishi. Does what it says on the tin. Not the most sophisticated of concepts, not many laughs, almost painfully geeky. But it’s one thing so many political pitches aren’t these days: It’s authentic.

It’s also brave. Because, at this stage, the only people the leadership candidates need to appeal to are other Tory MPs. They don’t have to operate in the real world at all yet – the Westminster bubble is as far as they need go.

So for him to look beyond all that to the people who ultimately really matter (the voters), to expose himself unnecessarily to the withering gaze of social media shows guts. And a thick skin.

It also shows he knows his market. Not the liberal intelligentsia – the people living in million-pound houses who flirt with Corbynism because it makes them feel less guilty about their great good fortune in life, and in any case, what’s an extra few thousand a year in taxes to them. But those who know what it’s like to go without – and strive for something better.

SMAll business owners, entrepreneurs, people with drive and determination to better themselves, the kind who want to make something of their lives. People who are not afraid of hard work, who don’t look for excuses – and who are not ashamed of their success. In other words, one Nation Tories.

That is who Rishi is, the son of immigrants who emigrated from east Africa because they wanted a better life for their family.

A cynic might say he’s using their story to counter criticism of his wife’s wealth. or maybe he’s just proud of how far he’s come in life. Why must everyone always apologise for being a success?

Whether or not he’s the right man for the job, I don’t know. But I do feel, after watching this, that if I voted for him I would know precisely what I was getting: An earnest, hard-working and rather serious man who would probably be quite boring to sit next to at dinner but who I would almost trust to divvy up the bill fairly. In some ways, one might argue, the perfect antidote to Boris Johnson.