Boris Johnson came under sustained pressure at PMQs today to introduce tougher sanctions against Russia. Both Sir Keir Starmer and Ian Blackford pressed the Prime Minister on the matter, with the Labour leader opening his questions by arguing that given a sovereign country had been invaded, ‘if not now, when’ would the government unleash a full package of sanctions.
Starmer repeatedly said the Labour party was supportive of what had been announced so far but that it wanted much more from the government. This included cracking down on the Russian state-backed broadcaster RT, which he said should be prevented from spreading Vladimir Putin’s propaganda around the world. Johnson argued that this country has a culture of free speech, but that Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries had asked Ofcom to review the channel’s licence. He said:
‘We live in a democracy, Mr Speaker, and we live in a country that believes in free speech and I think it’s important that we should leave it up to Ofcom rather than to politicians to decide which media organisations to ban.’
Starmer’s pressure today will have highlighted anxiety on the Tory benches about whether the government is being tough enough
The exchanges between the two men were rather more cordial than usual, with Johnson repeatedly thanking Starmer for the support he had given the sanctions package already unveiled, and the Labour leader repeatedly talking about the importance of unity across the House on this matter.
But while Ukraine has so far been politically useful for the Prime Minister in that it distracts from his domestic problems, things are rather different now that a Russian incursion is no longer a mere theoretical possibility. Starmer’s pressure today will have highlighted the anxiety on the Tory benches about whether the government is being tough enough. The Labour leader also has a political use for this situation, which is to show quite how different he is from his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn. While Corbyn gets schooled in the Commons for his sympathetic approach to Russia, Starmer is demanding the government be even tougher.
Johnson was still more aggressive than Starmer, partly because it is in his nature and partly because he’s the one under attack for not going far enough. He was naturally even more partisan when it came to Blackford, who habitually elicits groans from the Tory benches when he rises to ask his two questions. He attacked Blackford for Alex Salmond’s appearances on RT, even though Salmond has left the SNP and set up his own Alba party, and even though Blackford has previously made clear he doesn’t want anyone in his party going near that broadcaster. But this kind of broad brush approach is Johnson’s style of painting, and it does have the effect of galvanising his troops behind him, even in tricky sessions such as this one.
Comments