‘Apologise!’ This was the bogus battle-cry that rang out repeatedly at today’s PMQs. Rishi Sunak was asked to genuflect to his enemies and show contrition for fictional sins. The trouble began when Sir Keir Starmer told us that the mother of Brianna Ghey, a transgender girl killed in February, was present in the public gallery. ‘As a father, I can’t even imagine the pain she’s going through,’ he said, strangely placing himself at the centre of somebody else’s nightmare.
Sir Keir, unaware of what was about to transpire, then mounted a routine attack on Rishi’s unfulfilled pledges. The PM called this ‘a bit rich’ coming from a Labour leader who had broken ‘almost 30 promises.’ He gave a list including pensions, reform of the peerage and ‘defining a woman – although in fairness that was only 99 per cent of a U-turn.’
Sir Keir saw his chance. He pretended to be so incensed by Rishi’s quip that he could barely speak. ‘Of all the weeks to say that!’ he said, gasping breathlessly from the depths of his outrage, ‘when Brianna’s mother is in this chamber. Shame!’
The Speaker rose to quell some noise on the backbenches and as Sir Keir sat down, apparently close to tears, a hand settled on his right shoulder to offer him comfort and solace. The hand belonged to Rachel Reeves, his shadow chancellor. She caressed the shoulder-pad of his tailored suit and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Sir Keir nodded weakly at her, acknowledging her sympathy. It might have been a scene carved by Michelangelo. Sir Keir then stood up and lambasted the PM for unseemly conduct.
‘The role of the prime minister,’ he pronounced loftily, ‘is to ensure that every citizen in this country feels safe and respected.’ This was an invitation to his backbenchers to pursue Rishi further over trans rights.
Sir Keir went on to complain that Rishi had ‘casually made a £1,000 bet in the middle of an interview,’ referring to Piers Morgan’s attempt to corner the PM by offering to pay £1,000 to a refugee charity if the Rwanda scheme succeeds before the general election. Whether or not Rishi accepted this bet is open to question. Probably not. But he shook Morgan’s hand on TV and that strengthens the impression that he accepted Morgan’s terms. This prompted Stephen Flynn of the SNP to ask Rishi to acknowledge his error.
‘The public are used to Tories gambling on the lives of others’ he said, and he declared that Rishi had ‘accepted a crude bet regarding the lives of asylum-seekers… Will he apologise?’
Rishi rebuffed him and stuck to the policy issue. Flynn reacted with quiet fury. ‘The Prime Minister does himself no favours,’ he said and added that the bet had been contracted, ‘just hours before he withdrew cost of living support worth £900.’ And Flynn glanced up at the public gallery and offered his ‘heartfelt sympathies to Brianna’s mother.’ Clearly he expected Rishi to apologise to her as well. Many in the House appeared to agree.
But would he? The chamber remained unsettled and testy for the rest of the session. All it required was a backbencher with the wit to put the PM on the spot. Liz Twist, MP for Blaydon, did just that. She laid it on the line to Rishi.
‘Apologise to Brianna’s mother for his insensitive comments.’
Rishi was in trouble. He’d been skewered good and proper. But Twist ruined her ambush. Rather than sitting down and letting Rishi answer, she pursued her prepared question about the mishandling of a regeneration project in the north-east. Rishi wriggled free.
At the end, he dealt with the issue in his own time and in his own words. He said that Brianna’s mother had reacted to an ‘unspeakable and shocking murder’ by demonstrating ‘the very best of humanity.’
This was a distasteful exhibition by Sir Keir and Stephen Flynn. Misuse of the public gallery, and the exploitation of grieving relatives, should be reviewed by the House authorities.
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