Introduced with a video declaring he had achieved "Mission Imborisable" by winning a second term as London Mayor, Boris Johnson rallied Tory activists on Monday evening with a classic stand-up performance.
Around a thousand people happily poured into one of the larger halls in the convention centre to hear Boris express "a flat disbelief" that he had been re-elected.
It is Boris who has been the star of the show at the Conservative party conference, not David Cameron, and the rally organised on Monday night in his honour was a reminder that he had succeeded in winning where some believe the prime minister has failed.
The mayor has been riding a wave of popularity since the successful Olympic Games, acknowledging to the chuckling crowd that he was perhaps the "greatest harvester of undeserved credit".
Such is his confidence at the moment that Boris even risked the anger of One Direction fans, after the boyband's Niall Horan was taken to hospital with a squirrel bite.
"One Nation, One Direction, One Squirrel," Boris declared."I have every sympathy with the chap in question and his injuries, but I reflected on what an amazing index it was on quality of life in London not only do we have such beautiful green space but such healthy well fed dynamic and musically discernible squirrels."
Perhaps not too much of an immediate risk as most One Directioners are probably not old enough to vote. They will be after 2015 though - when it is widely believed Boris has his eyes set on the leadership of the party and then No10 should Cameron fail to win the general election.
Boris insisted that no one should "have any cause to doubt my admiration for David Cameron", reminding the audience that he was one of the prime minister's earliest supporters in 2005.
"I rang him up at a stage the number of Cameroons could have fitted into a telephone box, had one of them not been Nick Soames," he said.
"We can make sure that David Cameron can deliver a sensible, moderate, One Nation, compassionate Conservative administration through 2015 and beyond."
However Boris' pleas that he is not agitating for the leadership of the party were not aided yesterday when he declined an opportunity to say Cameron would be a better prime minister than he would be, saying that was "unverifiable".
And Boris is due to give a keynote speech from the platform in the conference hall on Tuesday, which will be examined for any other signs of splits with the prime minister.
