Oh dear. It seems that the hapless hero of Haringey has done it again. David Lammy is filling in for Keir Starmer today as our under-fire premier jets off to Brazil for COP30. So it is up to his deputy to fill in at today’s PMQs session. Lammy stepped up to the despatch box with relish, with a nice planted question from a loyal backbencher to kick things off. Connor Rand gushed his congratulations on Lammy’s ‘historic achivement’ to which the Deputy PM graciously gave his thanks. The bear pit of the Commons at its best….
Unfortunately though for Lammy, it seems that he had forgotten what time of the year it is. For having begun his session, it was then discovered that he was not in fact wearing a poppy – four days before Remembrance Sunday. Cue chaos on the Labour benches after the whips’ realisation. Amid frantic conversations, backbencher (and former RAF officer) Calvin Bailey was forced to hand over his for the Deputy PM to wear. Yes, that’s right, Lammy’s blunder meant he had to take a poppy off a veteran. So much for ‘We will remember them’, eh?
For Steerpike, it is just another incident to add the ever-growing back catalogue of Lammyisms. As the Tory backbenches often cheer: ‘Moreeeeee!’
UPDATE: It appears Lammy’s poppy was a veteran’s poppy – prompting claims of ‘stolen valour’. Trebles all round eh?
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