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.