Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch both entered the House of Commons to greetings that can only be called “lacklustre”. The chamber felt dead. It was far from empty, but also not really packed. It was a hot day, but the problem may well be the sense, in both Labour and the Conservatives, that they’re not really sure about their leaders.
The Lib Dems are cheerier, though they’re also weighed down by their feeling that every global problem, from climate change to litter in Tonbridge, is on their shoulders. Only Nigel Farage’s Reform look truly happy, despite being one of the smallest parties, with just five MPs — six if you include the prime minister.
This of course is the source of the malaise of most of the chamber. The Labour Party, less than a year after winning a historic election victory, has the air of a government getting ready to face the electorate after a recession- and scandal-ridden decade in office. That ought to cheer the Tories, but they know their situation is somehow even worse.
Whatever your view of Starmer’s immigration speech on Monday, it is hard to argue with the idea that it confirmed Farage is making the weather in British politics at the moment. Though on Wednesday, the man himself looked nervous. He was down to ask a question, and he knew that Labour MPs can make a lot of hostile noise if they want to.
Starmer opened by marking the 40th anniversary of the Bradford Fire. Each week, the leaders try to find a tribute to pay that the others have missed. This was a good one: there’s an even chance that Badenoch has never even heard of the tragedy, which happened when she was five years old and living in Nigeria. She replied with warm words on the death of Roy Stone, the civil servant who ran the Whips’ Office for decades, helping governments of both stripes get their business through.
Starmer was the one wrong-footed in this exchange, replying with an awkward line about Stone’s service in “various capacities” that suggested this was the first time he’d heard of him. But Ed Davey would beat them both, by offering “heartfelt congratulations” to the new Pope, whom they had somehow forgotten. Evidence is accruing that His Holiness is not a huge fan of His Trumpiness, so Davey may have him down as a potential Lib Dem candidate.
Badenoch asked about unemployment, and Starmer accused her of carping from the sidelines and talking the country down. Usually prime ministers say that when people are raising subjects they don’t like, but Starmer’s recent public interventions suggest he may feel that talking Britain down is his job.
The Tory leader attacked the government’s “tiny tariff deal” with the US as having “put us in a worse position than we were in in March”. Though a better position than we were in in April. Starmer accused her of wanting to rip it up and put business at risk. It was a low-energy exchange, heard at points in silence. Only when Badenoch announced that “Labour isn’t working” did she raise much noise from her own side. They still remember the old tunes.
There was at least good news for those concerned about Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who for weeks has suffered from some terrible medical affliction that forces him to sit, even on a crowded bench, with his legs splayed as though he has just dismounted from an elephant. His legs were, for the first time in weeks, neatly crossed, which must have been a relief to Victoria Atkins, sat next to him. Doctors can do wonders these days.
Down the bench from the prime minister, trouble was brewing. Diane Abbott, the mother of the house, was trying to get called. It seemed unlikely she wanted to offer her support for Starmer’s new scepticism about foreigners coming over here and taking our jobs.
She didn’t get called, but Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts raised the subject for her, pointing out that the prime minister had once been rather nicer about immigrants. “The only principle he consistently defends is whichever he last heard in a focus group,” she said. “So I ask him: is there any belief he holds that survives a week in Downing Street?”
Starmer sprang up. “Yes, the belief that she talks rubbish,” he said, which caused quite a lot of amusement, even if it was hardly Oscar Wilde.
Probably the most wounding question though would come from Farage. “We at Reform,” he began, “very much enjoyed your speech on Monday. You seem to be learning a very great deal from us.” Labour MPs looked queasy, and barely had the heart to heckle him. Badenoch should take note: this is how you make life awkward for a prime minister.
