PMQs: Boris Johnson toughens up his rhetoric on Iran

PMQs was, by recent standards, a brief affair today. The new Speaker Lindsay Hoyle called the last question at 12.31 – in stark contrast to his predecessor John Bercow who liked to let the session drift on to almost 1pm.

The main exchanges were, unsurprisingly, about Iran. Jeremy Corbyn’s questions, though, were less than forensic and didn’t cause Boris Johnson many problems. The most striking thing was how Johnson toughened up his rhetoric on Soleimani saying ‘that man has the blood of British troops on his hands.’ Johnson also said that the government believed there were no US or UK casualties in last night’s strikes. If that is the case, and the firing of those missiles marks the end of the matter, there will be relief in Whitehall. It will mean that Boris Johnson has successfully walked the tightrope of avoiding a breach with the US while being part of a European diplomatic effort to deescalate the situation.