With two months to go until his successor takes over, Rishi Sunak only has a handful of PMQs sessions left. But never fear: with the end of the Starmer/Sunak show comes a new leading man in the latter’s place. Nigel Farage – the man who loves to claim he’s the real ‘Leader of the Opposition’ – today got a chance to put that assertion to the test. He faced off against Sir Keir in the Commons as the Reform leader was called by Speaker Hoyle to ask his first question of the new Prime Minister.
In typical Farage style he didn’t disappoint, asking Starmer the following:
Yesterday we witnessed some extraordinary celebratory scenes outside Britain’s prisons where, in some cases, serious career criminals were released. And this to make way for, yes, rioters, but equally, those who have said unpleasant things on Facebook and elsewhere on social media. Does the Prime Minister understand that there is a growing feeling of anger in this country that we are living through two-tier policing and a two-tier justice system?
Cue the predictable Labour chorus of groans and jeers. Perhaps mindful of Farage’s potential appeal to voters in Labour’s newly reconquered red wall seats, Starmer opted to direct his response solely at the Sunak regime. ‘I’m angry to be put in a position of having to release people who should be in prison because the last government broke the prison service,’ he declared, listing various warnings to Conservative ministers. ‘What did he do?’ he said of Sunak, sat opposite. ‘He delayed and increased the risks.’
It marked the end of the pair’s first clash in the Commons. With Reform on the up, Mr S suspects it won’t be the last…
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