Two weeks ago Kemi Badenoch was widely seen to have messed up at PMQs when she asked Keir Starmer about a policy U-turn which, if she had been listening properly, she would have heard him announce a few minutes earlier. Every leader has a bad PMQs from time to time. When you do, it is best to move on. Instead, Badenoch today chose to return to this territory. Not for the first time, her script seemed to have been drafted along the lines of ‘this is what I would have asked last time if I only I had been thinking more quickly’.
Badenoch asked Starmer to say how many pensioners would now get the winter fuel payment, if he would apologise, and how much the U-turn would cost? She did not get an apology, and she did not get answers to the two policy questions. She seemed to be strategising on the basis that she would be able to make Starmer look evasive. But this only works when a PM’s failure to answer a question looks unreasonable to members of the public, or to their own MPs. No one expects prime ministers to apologise all the time (although in some respects it would be nice if they did), and Starmer’s refusal to answer the policy questions just sounded routine in the circumstances. If Badenoch had persisted (by asking repeatedly, for example, about Mrs X from Y on average pensioner earnings, and if she would get now get the WFP), she might have made him squirm a little, but she didn’t.
Right at the end of PMQs we saw a second example of Badenoch, instead of ignoring a bad moment and moving on, returning to it in a way that only seemed to make things worse. This was the Tory response to Starmer implying she was pro-Moscow during the exchanges. Bringing the issue up allowed him to use this line which successfully skewered two opponents in one go.
If she carries on echoing Kremlin talking points like this, Reform is going to be sending her an application form for membership.
As PMQs finished, Jesse Norman, the shadow leader of the Commons, used a point of order to complain about Starmer raising Russia. (See 12.46pm.) And the Conservative party issued this statement.
It is truly astonishing that at PMQs the prime minister read out a tweet written in the Kremlin, designed to divide the western alliance on Ukraine. Is there any low to which Keir Starmer won’t sink to distract from his political problems? This was the first time a Labour leader has repeated Kremlin propaganda in parliament since Jeremy Corbyn and the Salisbury poisonings.
Accusing Starmer of repeating “Kremlin propaganda” smacks of desperation, but it is not hard to see why the Tories feel aggrieved. Badenoch is not a pro-Russian politician. But in an interview on Sky News on the Sunday before last she said that that Ukraine is fighting a proxy war “on behalf of western Europe against Russia”, and this led the Russian embassy to put out a longish message on X that started:
@KemiBadenoch has finally called a spade a spade.
Ukraine is indeed fighting a proxy-war against Russia on behalf of western interests. The illegitimate Kiev regime, created, financed and armed by the West, has been at it since 2014.
What Badenoch seemed to be saying was that, in fighting Russia, Ukraine is fighting a war that matters to the whole of Europe – which is what Starmer thinks, and which is the government’s position. It was just the use of the word “proxy” that aligned with Russian messaging. The Tories may feel that Starmer is being unfair, but they should probably have just taken the hit instead of reviving memories of a Badenoch verbal gafffe.
For the record, here is the full quote from Badenoch in that Sky interview. She was not really talking about Russia at all; instead she was talking about Israel, and arguing that the UK should be fully aligned with Israel on Gaza policy. This is an area where the policy diffference between her and Starmer is much more real than it is on Russia and Ukraine. It is also an area where the Tories are probably out of step with UK public opinion. Badenoch told Sky News:
Israel is fighting a proxy war on behalf of the UK, just like Ukraine is on behalf of western Europe against Russia. We have to get serious. We have to get serious. That was a terrorist plot in London against the Israeli embassy. We saw two Jewish members of the Israeli embassy in DC killed, whose side are we on? We need to make sure that the hostages are returned. No one wants to see a war in Gaza. Palestinians are suffering. Netanyahu is complaining that he thinks our leaders are carrying out the wrong action. He has every right to say that. What I want to see is Keir Starmer making sure that he is on the right side of British national interest? That cannot be on the side of Hamas.
Here is the PA Media story from PMQs.
Keir Starmer sidestepped calls to say whether he will scrap the two-child benefit cap as he was accused of presiding over “chaos, chaos, chaos”.
The prime minister said he is “absolutely determined” to “drive down” child poverty, although he declined to give further details ahead of the publication of the government’s strategy on the issue.
His remarks came as Kemi Badenoch pressed Starmer to say how many pensioners would have their winter fuel payments restored and asked about the future of the two-child benefit cap amid “U-turn after U-turn” from the PM.
The cap was introduced in 2015 by then-Conservative chancellor George Osborne and restricts child welfare payments to the first two children born to most families.
Badenoch said Starmer has “not stabilised the economy” before adding: “He has no clear answers on what he’s doing, it’s just chaos, chaos, chaos. He’s making announcements with no detail.
“So let’s move to another area of confusion. Can we get a simple answer: will the government keep the two-child benefit cap?”
Starmer replied: “I am absolutely determined that we will drive down child poverty, that’s one of the proudest things of the last Labour government, that’s why we’ve got a taskforce, that’s why we’ve got a strategy, and we’ll set out that strategy in due course.
“But we drive child poverty down. Under them, poverty always goes up.”
Badenoch countered: “I didn’t ask him about a taskforce, I asked him if he’ll keep the two-child benefit cap, and he doesn’t know. It’s just chaos and uncertainty. He has no details, he is briefing something and causing a lot of confusion to the people out there.
“But on that two-child benefit cap I’ll tell him this: I believe in family, but I also believe in fairness. On this side of the house, we believe that people on benefits should have to make the same choices on having children as everyone else. What does the prime minister believe?”
Starmer replied: “I believe profoundly in driving down poverty and child poverty, that’s why we’ll put a strategy in place.”
Two weeks ago Kemi Badenoch was widely seen to have messed up at PMQs when she asked Keir Starmer about a policy U-turn which, if she had been listening properly, she would have heard him announce a few minutes earlier. Every leader has a bad PMQs from time to time. When you do, it is best to move on. Instead, Badenoch today chose to return to this territory. Not for the first time, her script seemed to have been drafted along the lines of ‘this is what I would have asked last time if I only I had been thinking more quickly’.
Badenoch asked Starmer to say how many pensioners would now get the winter fuel payment, if he would apologise, and how much the U-turn would cost? She did not get an apology, and she did not get answers to the two policy questions. She seemed to be strategising on the basis that she would be able to make Starmer look evasive. But this only works when a PM’s failure to answer a question looks unreasonable to members of the public, or to their own MPs. No one expects prime ministers to apologise all the time (although in some respects it would be nice if they did), and Starmer’s refusal to answer the policy questions just sounded routine in the circumstances. If Badenoch had persisted (by asking repeatedly, for example, about Mrs X from Y on average pensioner earnings, and if she would get now get the WFP), she might have made him squirm a little, but she didn’t.
Right at the end of PMQs we saw a second example of Badenoch, instead of ignoring a bad moment and moving on, returning to it in a way that only seemed to make things worse. This was the Tory response to Starmer implying she was pro-Moscow during the exchanges. Bringing the issue up allowed him to use this line which successfully skewered two opponents in one go.
If she carries on echoing Kremlin talking points like this, Reform is going to be sending her an application form for membership.
As PMQs finished, Jesse Norman, the shadow leader of the Commons, used a point of order to complain about Starmer raising Russia. (See 12.46pm.) And the Conservative party issued this statement.
It is truly astonishing that at PMQs the prime minister read out a tweet written in the Kremlin, designed to divide the western alliance on Ukraine. Is there any low to which Keir Starmer won’t sink to distract from his political problems? This was the first time a Labour leader has repeated Kremlin propaganda in parliament since Jeremy Corbyn and the Salisbury poisonings.
Accusing Starmer of repeating “Kremlin propaganda” smacks of desperation, but it is not hard to see why the Tories feel aggrieved. Badenoch is not a pro-Russian politician. But in an interview on Sky News on the Sunday before last she said that that Ukraine is fighting a proxy war “on behalf of western Europe against Russia”, and this led the Russian embassy to put out a longish message on X that started:
@KemiBadenoch has finally called a spade a spade.
Ukraine is indeed fighting a proxy-war against Russia on behalf of western interests. The illegitimate Kiev regime, created, financed and armed by the West, has been at it since 2014.
What Badenoch seemed to be saying was that, in fighting Russia, Ukraine is fighting a war that matters to the whole of Europe – which is what Starmer thinks, and which is the government’s position. It was just the use of the word “proxy” that aligned with Russian messaging. The Tories may feel that Starmer is being unfair, but they should probably have just taken the hit instead of reviving memories of a Badenoch verbal gafffe.
For the record, here is the full quote from Badenoch in that Sky interview. She was not really talking about Russia at all; instead she was talking about Israel, and arguing that the UK should be fully aligned with Israel on Gaza policy. This is an area where the policy diffference between her and Starmer is much more real than it is on Russia and Ukraine. It is also an area where the Tories are probably out of step with UK public opinion. Badenoch told Sky News:
Israel is fighting a proxy war on behalf of the UK, just like Ukraine is on behalf of western Europe against Russia. We have to get serious. We have to get serious. That was a terrorist plot in London against the Israeli embassy. We saw two Jewish members of the Israeli embassy in DC killed, whose side are we on? We need to make sure that the hostages are returned. No one wants to see a war in Gaza. Palestinians are suffering. Netanyahu is complaining that he thinks our leaders are carrying out the wrong action. He has every right to say that. What I want to see is Keir Starmer making sure that he is on the right side of British national interest? That cannot be on the side of Hamas.
After PMQs there was meant to be an urgent question on Gaza. But that has been converted into a government statement, from Hamish Falconer, the Middle East minister, which will start after the regional growth statement from Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, which is taking place now.
Jesse Norman, the shadow leader of the Commons, raises a point of order. He says viewers will have seen Keir Starmer refuse to answer Kemi Badenoch’s questions. Instead Starmer started talking about Russia, he says. He asks whether Starmer should have been allowed to change the subject like that.
In reply, Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, says that at PMQs “the scope has always been that we’ve always questioned the answers whoever has been at that dispatch box”.
This came out as jibberish, but the point he seemed to be making was that at PMQs it is customary for the Speaker to allow the PM to answer questions however he likes.
David Davis (Con) says Starmer once wrote a book on miscarriages of justice. But people only get compensation if they can prove their innocence beyond reasonable doubt. This means 93% of victims do not get compensation.
Starmer says this is an important issue. He will ensure the government considers this.
Sarah Dyke (Lib Dem) says the police in Glastonbury need more resources to tackle the problem with anti-social behaviour in the constituency.
Starmer says Dyke is right to raise this issue.
David Pinto-Duschinsky (Lab) asks Starmer to criticise other parties not backing Labour’s plans on flood defences.
Starmer says the last government left flood defences in the worst state on record.
Gregory Stafford (Con) says his constituency needs more GPs.
Starmer says the last government left the NHS on its knees.
Lincoln Jopp (Con) says Starmer said he was a socialist during the election. It has been surprising to learn Nigel Farage is one too. Will Starmer remind Rachel Reeves of Margaret Thatcher’s saying about the problem with socialists being that they eventually run out of other people’s money.
Starmer says Jopp relaced Kwasi Kwarteng. He claims the Tories have made unfunded commitments worth £18bn. It is Liz Truss 2.0, he says.
Natalie Fleet (Lab) says she will speak out for rape victims who have having to wait years for justice.
Starmer says some women are having to wait far too long for justice.
The Tories left the prison system on the point of collapse, he says.
Manuela Perteghella (Lib Dem) asks about the impact of the national insurance increase on care providers. When will the government offer them relief?
Starmer says the government has announced £500m for local authorities to help them manage the NICs increase.
He says the Lib Dems opposed the budget. They cannot ask for more spending, but oppose the budget that provides it.
Starmer says the government inherited an “appalling” water system. The era of rewards for failure is over, he says.
Sarah Pochin, the new Reform UK MP, asks Starmer to ban the burqa in the interests of public safety, as some other European countries are doing.
Starmer welcomes Pochin to the Commons, but says he will not follow her advice on this. He says Pochin should tell her party leader to abandon Liz Truss economics.
UPDATE: Pochin said:
Given the prime minister’s desire to strengthen strategic alignment with our European neighbours, will he in the interests of public safety follow the lead of France, Denmark, Belgium and others and ban the burqa?
And Starmer replied:
Can I welcome her to her place, but I’m not going to follow her down that line.
But now she is here and safely in her place, perhaps she could tell her new party leader that his latest plan to bet £80bn of unfunded tax cuts, with no idea how he’s going to pay for it, is Liz Truss all over again.
“Although considering I think [Pochin] was a Conservative member when Liz Truss was leader, she probably won’t.
Graeme Downie (Lab) says the SNP government is letting down young people in Scotland.
Starmer says the SNP is blocking an investement for a new welding centre on the Clyde.
Brendan O’Hara (SNP) says government lawyers recently argued in court that no genocide is occuring in Gaza. Is Starmer willing to say that here?
Starmer says he is appalled by Israel’s recent actions, including the expansion of military action, the actions of settlers, and the blocking of aid. The SNP want to get rid of the nuclear deterrent, he says.
Alex Barros-Curtis (Lab) praises the government for getting an exemption from steel tariffs for the UK. That will help workers in Wales, he says.
Starmer says the opposition do not support the deal that has led to this exemption. They are not backing British workers, he says.
Rachel Gilmour (Lib Dem) asks about a constituent who cannot work because of hger caring responsibilities who is unable to obtain disability living allowance. Will Starmer reassure her the government is doing all it can to help.
Starmer says the government will look into this.
