The end of Sir Keir’s premiership, and especially his last few PMQs, was always going to be less of a swansong and more a prolonged squeal. The Prime Minister makes no secret of his hatred of even being in parliament, let alone answering questions there – if ‘answering’ is the right word for the mix of slogans, bluff and anger which make up his Wednesday lunchtime offerings. Who knows when his last will be, but it now won’t be long. I suspect he will not miss it.
One person who will probably miss him is the Leader of the Opposition. There was a touch of sadness in Kemi Badenoch’s voice as she realised this would be one of her final skewerings of the Oinking One. Perhaps the disappointment was not entirely altruistic: she has got good at baiting out the flouncy, petulant and dishonest Starmer. The Bambi-faced air of perpetual disappointment that leaks from Burnham might prove more difficult to goad.
Alas, parliament is an increasingly censorious and mawkish place
Starmer entered parliament to resounding cheers from the same MPs who’d defenestrated him 48 hours earlier. As with many things about the Labour party, it brought to mind the religious life of the Aztecs, whereby a sacrificial victim would be cheered and lauded with great acclaim before being marched up to the top of a pyramid to have his heart cut out with an obsidian knife. ‘If it’s all going so fine,’ replied Kemi Badenoch, ‘why is he resigning?’ Her criticism drew squawked complaints – a great outpouring of schoolmarmish huffing from the Labour backbenchers, amusing in its very brazenness. The truth proved deeply offensive. If you don’t like it being pointed out that you’ve knifed the Prime Minister, perhaps the solution is not to knife the Prime Minister?
