Honours dominated the exchanges at PMQs. Sir Keir asked why the Tories have spent an entire week bickering about which Conservative deserves ennoblement. Rishi claimed that he followed ‘established convention’ in approving Boris’s lavender-list. A bit of a whopper. He clearly didn’t support the candidacy of Nadine Dorries who complained in frothing prose about the ‘sinister forces’ that denied her a peerage. Sir Keir failed to spot Rishi’s clumsy footwork and instead he pretended that the PM approved ‘Johnson’s list’ in full.
‘Too weak to block it,’ said Sir Keir.
Rishi shifted tack and mentioned the peerage granted to Labour’s Tom Watson who, he said, ‘spread vicious conspiracy theories that were utterly untrue and damaged our public discourse’. This earned a knuckle-wrap from the Speaker who said it was wrong to speak the truth about Lord Watson.
Sir Keir set out today to smear Rishi as a slippery weakling, but the caricature fails because it’s not rooted in existing perceptions. Rishi is tough, astute, fast on his feet and formidably well-prepared for PMQs. And Sir Keir’s inability to skewer his opponent compels him to use generic insults like ‘Tory cronies’ or to yell out knackered old slogans – ‘they should hang their heads in shame.’ Sir Keir can’t win against Rishi but he doesn’t need to. The sea is running in Labour’s direction. For a full half-hour today, the party’s frolicsome backbenchers cackled and gibbered like a crew of coke addicts anticipating the arrival of their dealer.
Labour’s frolicsome backbenchers cackled and gibbered like a crew of coke addicts anticipating the arrival of their dealer
Rishi drew attention to Labour’s gravest recent blunder: its pledge to withhold new North Sea drilling licences. Jubilation will break out in the Kremlin, warned Rishi, as Putin celebrates a policy that will deliver ‘British jobs for Russian workers’. The PM estimates that 200,000 UK employees might be thrown out of work by Sir Keir’s eco-insanity. Excellent point. If Rishi had any sense he’d call an emergency summit with the oil majors to discuss the risks of a Labour government. Then again, if the oil majors had any sense they’d decline the invitation. The withdrawal of new licences will give Big Oil a boost. Prices in the UK will rise and extra diesel will burn as tankers chug around the world bringing foreign oil to these oil-rich shores.
Stephen Flynn of the SNP, looking as cuddly as a cactus, unearthed a quote from last summer made by Rishi about the policies of Liz Truss which might cause mortgage repayments to rise. Millions would be ‘tipped into misery’, Rishi said about a year ago. ‘And we’ll have absolutely no chance of winning the general election.’ Flynn asked the PM: ‘Does he still agree with his own electoral analysis?’
The purpose of this clever question is not to embarrass the Prime Minister but to advertise Flynn’s forensic cunning. And who cares about such things? Only the Stephen Flynn fan club, which has yet to enrol its second recruit. Rishi’s reply was feeble. He referred to a recent SNP meeting which overlooked Scotland’s problems and considered the wisdom of sending flowers to Nicola Sturgeon. ‘Did he sign the card?’ asked the PM.
‘He needs to grow up,’ said Flynn.
Labour backbencher, Taiwo Owatemi, highlighted the successful work done by both major parties in exposing the follies of a nationalised healthcare system. Owatemi has a sick constituent, Sarah, who declined to join a five-month waiting-list and instead hired a private doctor. ‘The Conservatives have broken the NHS’, said Owatemi. Nearly, yes, but not quite. More work is needed. Owatemi begged the voters to let Labour finish the job. Oh, all right then.
Comments