From 1 Jul 2026PMQs - snap verdictThere aren’t many advantages to being forced out of your job if you are prime minister, but knowing that you will never have to face another PMQs is one clear bonus. Among the many reasons why it is such an ordeal is the fact that, as PM, you get blamed for everything. In part that is because the opposition parties will always be critical, regardless of whether or not that’s fair, but mostly it’s just a facet of leadership.Today Keir Starmer sounded more fed up about this than usual. As he hit back at his critics, he was more withering and disdainful than usual. And, as a result, better than usual too.He slapped down Dave Doogan, the SNP leader at Westminster, with ease, forcefully and effectively. (See 12.30pm.) And when Lee Anderson from Reform UK asked a question, Starmer briskly addressed it before devoting most of his answer to a hatchet job on Nigel Farage. (See 12.42pm.)But it was Kemi Badenoch who seemed to wind Starmer up the most. As expected, she devoted all her questions to the defence investment plan (Dip). Her problem, though, was that while Starmer might be prepared to listen to criticism of his record on defence spending from the chief of the defence staff, or from Lord Robertson, or from the Nato secretary general, he is not minded to accept the same lectures from her party given its own record on this issue.Starmer rightly accused her of “faux outrage”. In his second response to her, he said: