It is officially the launch of the Conservative Party’s general election campaign. I watch as exhausted security guards wave in Tory members filing towards the Excel Centre in the shadow of derelict shipping buildings and super yachts.
Past the sniffer dogs and blacked-out Range Rovers, I am greeted by a cheery Tory press officer equipped with an umbrella - clearly learning his lesson from Rishi Sunak’s washout outside Downing Street.
