Rishi Sunak vows to fight to the end in battle to win the general election

For someone who’s halfway through a gruelling general election campaign, Rishi Sunak remains in a remarkably chipper mood.

Not even the fact that his party is languishing behind in the polls - third to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in one - seemed to be getting him down.

When I spoke to the Prime Minister yesterday/on Friday he was in a chipper mood.

Perhaps it was the beautiful surroundings of the Borgo Egnazia resort, nestled beside the Adriatic in the heel of Italy, where he has spent the past two days meeting with world leaders at the G7.

Whatever the result of the general election, he's going to be sticking around in British politics for a while yet.

“Five more years as PM or MP, whichever way the result goes,” I asked.

“Yes to both,” was the resounding answer.

But he’s not giving up on extending his time in No 10 just yet.

“We’re halfway through”, he said and “I’m going to keep fighting”.

He will need to as the Tory campaign has hit a few bumps in the road up until this point.

There was the rain-soaked election launch way back in May or the furious backlash following the PM’s decision to leave the D-Day commemorations early.

He’s has some good moments too, notably outmuscling Sir Keir Starmer in the first head-to-head TV debate on the BBC.

Labour, too, have had some shaky moments. The saga over Diane Abbott threatened the infamous “Ming vase” and the party’s manifesto launch didn’t get the headlines Sir Keir would have wanted.

Perhaps the most dramatic event of the campaign so far was the return of Mr Farage.

Reform UK’s emergence as a new “opposition” party has worried many within the Conservatives.

With just 20 days to go until polls close anything can happen and there’s still much to play for.

One thing is now for certain, Rishi Sunak, who met Pope Francis at the G7, will still be around in some shape or form after July 5.