Anyone who struggled with maths at school remembers that one pupil in class who made lessons a misery.

You know the one I mean – the irritating swot who could do fractions in their head and solve equations in their sleep. While your geometry drawings resembled a dog’s breakfast, theirs somehow turned out like Renaissance masterpieces.

Rishi Sunak was so clearly that goody-goody schoolboy.

Everything about the Prime Minister’s confident poise suggests a man who never suffered the spirit-crushing struggles of the trigonometry tutorial. He’s the sort of chap who left exams early – and then loitered outside the hall to gloat about what a cinch it had been.

Small wonder, then, that the Prime Minister is keen to introduce more mathematics into our schools’ curriculum. Yesterday, he announced he now wants pupils to study some form of maths until they are 18.

Everything about the Prime Minister’s confident poise suggests a man who never suffered the spirit-crushing struggles of the trigonometry tutorial

Yesterday, Rishi Sunak announced he now wants pupils to study some form of maths until they are 18.

It’s just as well schoolkids can’t vote. The next election would be a wipeout.

For this latest announcement, Mr Sunak chose the London Screen Academy in North London, a film and television college which aims to churn out the David Leans and Danny Boyles of tomorrow.

The audience did not exactly fizz with enthusiasm at Rishi’s proposals, which wasn’t totally surprising. Numbers are to creative types are what a plate of garlic bread is to Dracula.

It’s not easy to get excited about Maths first thing on a Monday morning but, of course, the PM managed it. He skipped on stage shortly after 9.30am, vibrating with his usual Blue Peter-presenter enthusiasm.

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He looked healthy and refreshed after the Easter break. The hair was newly trimmed. The eyes shiny and alert, suggesting he’d caught a little extra pillow time over the past fortnight.

We were told that poor numeracy is currently costing the economy ‘tens of billions’ every year. Workers who can’t add and subtract are twice as likely to be unemployed, he said.

Those with poor number skills who do(itals) have jobs are being paid, on average, £1,600 a year less than they should be. How on earth he has come up with such figures is anyone’s guess. As my old maths teachers drilled in to me: ‘Always show your working!’

For this latest announcement, Mr Sunak chose the London Screen Academy in North London, a film and television college which aims to churn out the David Leans and Danny Boyles of tomorrow.

On his public relations crusade to reverse our nation’s ‘anti-maths mindset’, Rishi wants to boost curriculums and expand the number of ‘maths hubs’ around the country to help improve the standard of teaching

On his public relations crusade to reverse our nation’s ‘anti-maths mindset’, Rishi wants to boost curriculums and expand the number of ‘maths hubs’ around the country to help improve the standard of teaching. Ah, hubs: That one-size-fits-all political answer to everything.

Sunak said he wants teachers to ‘bring maths to life’ by getting pupils to learn about things such as how to calculate the speed of a Formula One race car and the angles of free kicks in football. Presumably David Beckham would have bagged tons more goals if he’d just learned how to use a protractor.

The PM then turned things over to the audience. There was time for a ‘good bunch of questions’ he said. Not words we hear often at these sorts of things. Most politicians try to peg it at the first opportunity .

Turned out students at the Academy weren’t a talkative bunch. ‘Gosh, very quiet,’ said the PM nervously. After an awkward pause, he suggested they could ask him about anything.

Again, a rather bold thing for Rishi to say. Someone might have been tempted to ask about his missus’ tax affairs, or why he wears his trousers half way up his ankles. But instead the invitation was again met with stony silence.

Perhaps they were feeling weary after the weekend. Perhaps they were shy. Or more likely the poor mites were too busy digesting the idea of being forced to do algebra again.