PMQ Review: Starmer scores a screamer with corruption accusations

Boris Johnson's legacy of corruption becomes a real problem for the PM

Labour’s lack of clear immigration policy is a significant threat to Labour’s electoral chances. Starmer expertly steered the debate towards the Gary Lineker/BBC drama over the weekend and avoided questions about his own views on illegal immigration, criticising the Conservative’s for “trying to cancel a broadcaster”.

Left-wing parties always score points when they ‘flip the script’ on cancel culture, and Starmer did just that, putting the following to the Prime Minister: “why doesn’t he stand up to his snowflake MPs waging war on free speech”.

Sunak’s assessment of Starmer’s position - “he saw the chance to jump on a political bandwagon, and changed his mind” - is completely accurate, but it simply doesn’t cut through in the same way.

Fundamentally, the BBC Chairman being a Tory donor removes any credibility that the PM had left on the issue. Starmer further pressed Sunak on his relationship with Richard Sharp: “he’s so close to the PM, he’s been described as his mentor”. And as the Labour Leader hammered home, Sunak cannot pretend that “the actions of his party are nothing to do with him”.

Stephen Flynn’s attacks on Sunak’s heated swimming pool provided a nice one-two, seeing the Prime Minister come under fire on both personal and party-political levels. Flynn said that the PM was out-of-touch (always a reliable criticism of Sunak) and called for more energy support: “the Tories aren’t freezing energy bills, they’re freezing households”.

Overall, a good week for Labour. All eyes on the budget now.