Whoops and choruses of “hear hear” accompany demands by these self-styled New Conservatives, MPs from the party’s right, to cut taxes, limit immigration, and prohibit gender ideology.

One of the speakers, MP Sir John Hayes, gives a rallying cry in a tub-thumbing speech: “We must be unabashed and unapologetic about our conservatism.”

So, what’s “new” about Conservative politics within a party that’s been in power for more than a decade?

The New Conservatives claim to offer patriotic, no-nonsense ideals that are “in contrast to metropolitan opinion politics.”

It’s a populist approach that wouldn’t be out of place in a speech by former US President Donald Trump, and it’s produced a lot of political energy at this year’s Conservative conference in Manchester.

Aside from HS2, the conference’s key stories have come from figures who want to see the party go further to the right.

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s calls for tax reduction, deregulation, and fracking were enthusiastically received by Tory activists at a sold-out event.

Then there’s Nigel Farage, the former head of the Brexit Party, who hasn’t ruled out rejoining the Conservatives after being feted by top Tory Eurosceptics at fringe events and karaoke parties.