Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Keir Starmer’s PMQs performance was painfully wooden

‘Such happy news amid such uncertainty’. The Speaker began PMQs with this tribute to Carrie and Boris’s baby. But his talk of ‘happy news amid such uncertainty’ might have referred to MPs tuning in via webcam whose living areas have been denuded of clutter. Last week, viewers got an eyeful of their MPs’ soft furnishings which proved a major distraction from politics. Honourable members have now realised that their utterances are much less interesting than their wallpaper. Today most of them appeared in plain white surroundings. Cheryl Gillan, a rare exception, had set up her camera in what looked like a magical grotto decorated with turquoise box-files.

The first secretary, Dominic Raab, was quizzed by Sir Keir Starmer. The Labour leader did his best to pose as a decent, intelligent parliamentarian who sought only to illuminate a set of thorny issues for an anxious populace. ‘Gotcha’ tactics would be beneath him. Morally, this was an heartening approach. As a dramatic spectacle, it was like watching cress grow.

For a trained barrister, Starmer is curiously lacking in the killer instinct. Twice he had Raab cornered. Twice he let his quarry escape. Picking up on an inconsistent claim, he delivered this challenge.

‘He [Raab] said that deaths in care-homes were falling in line with those in hospitals. That’s not borne out by the figures.’

Raab was about to answer but Starmer defused the grenade. ‘Could he clarify that when he next gets up,’ he asked chummily. And he moved on to the commemorations planned for deceased NHS workers. 

The issue of testing offered an even juicier opportunity. The government has promised to deliver 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month. Which is tomorrow. But only last Monday, a mere 43,000 tests had been completed.

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