PMQs: Starmer’s attacks fail to land

Today’s Prime Minister’s Questions ran pretty much as expected. The session opened with Boris Johnson very pointedly congratulating his Conservative colleague Jamie Wallis, who has just come out as the UK’s first openly trans MP. Johnson said: ‘I stand with you and will give you the support that you need to live freely as yourself.’ Keir Starmer agreed with those comments but chose not to talk about trans issues, which is also as expected given his tendency to swerve the topic even when asked directly about it. Instead, he continued a theme he has used before, accusing Johnson of ‘taking the public for fools’.

Starmer’s first attack line was taxes, asking if Johnson ‘still thinks that he and the Chancellor are tax-cutting Conservatives?’ Johnson responded that ‘I certainly do’, listing the cut in fuel duty and the rise in the National Insurance threshold that the Chancellor announced last week. ‘Cut the nonsense,’ Starmer replied, ‘and treat the British people with a bit of respect. Let me take him through this slowly: 15 tax rises; the highest tax burden for 70 years; for every £6 they are taking in tax rises, they’re only handing £1 back. Prime Minister, is that cutting taxes, or is that raising taxes?’ Johnson’s riposte was that Labour had only voted against the ‘the health and care levy, to fund our NHS, that’s the one they oppose, every other tax rise, they’re all in favour of’.

Starmer then brought up the partygate investigation, joking that ‘I can only hope that his police questionnaire was a bit more convincing’ than Johnson’s answers. He continued on taxes and fraud for a few more questions, pressing once again the case for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies and accusing the Conservatives of being ‘the party of excess oil and gas profits’. He then returned to the lockdown parties, telling the chamber that Johnson’s handling of yesterday’s fines meant he was ‘either trashing the ministerial code or he was claiming he was repeatedly lied to by his own advisers’.

Johnson then ended up in the bizarre position of ridiculing Starmer over his changing stance on whether he, the Prime Minister, should resign. ‘He has zero consistency on any issue,’ he cried, memorably describing the Labour leader as a ‘human weathervane’.

None of these exchanges felt all that uncomfortable for either side. The spring statement landed poorly, but Starmer gave more of a running commentary, failing to create further tension for the Tories. On partygate, there is currently no groundswell in the Conservative ranks for removing Johnson, though that may change after the conclusion of the police investigation and the Sue Gray review. Both leaders will have left feeling they managed to build on their characterisation of the other, but will likely forget the session by the end of the day.