Just as Prime Minister’s Questions was coming to a close on Wednesday, the Conservative Party issued a blunt statement, accusing Keir Starmer of committing a “screeching U-turn” over winter fuel payments for pensioners. It was a fair point, and one could only think that in a better organised world, a Tory might have made it to the prime minister’s face.
Take, just for example, Kemi Badenoch. She was sitting there. She had six questions. She’s leader of the opposition, and has made a promise to the actual King that she will hold the government’s feet to the fire. Here was an opportunity to do exactly that.
The reversal came right at the start of the session. Sarah Owen, Labour MP for Luton North, had asked Starmer “what measures he will take to help struggling pensioners in towns like mine?”
“Well, Mr Speaker,” the prime minister began, almost as though he had been expecting this question. “The economy is beginning to improve.” But he knew people were still feeling the squeeze. “And that is why we want to ensure that as we go forward, more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments.” There it was, in the most public way possible, a signal that the government is changing course, and a pretty clear signal of how: expect the threshold for cutting off the payments to move.
“Aaaaaaaah!” cried the opposition benches, triumphantly. Sometimes a minister can say something in parliament whose significance isn’t obvious in the moment. This was not one of those times. This was a clear U-turn, made on a busy road in broad daylight, with hazard lights flashing.
“It’s extraordinary listening to that last answer from the Prime Minister,” Badenoch began, suggesting that she had definitely been aware he had spoken. She asked about inflation, up that very morning. “Inflation was 2 per cent when the Conservatives left office,” she said. Starmer batted that one away.
“Inflation was brought down by us!” Badenoch said again. And, on that logic, pushed up by them too. Her third question was about Angela Rayner’s proposal to raise taxes, leaked that morning to the Telegraph. “He’s lost control of his cabinet!” Badenoch declared.
Only on her fourth question did the Tory leader turn to the actual government retreat that had just happened in front of her. “I’m going to ask him a simple question,” she said. “It only requires one word, yes or no, is he planning to U-turn on winter fuel cuts?”
Was this a cunning plan to wrong-foot him and catch him off-balance by asking a question he’d already answered? If so, it failed. “I made clear in my earlier answer,” Starmer said, “that as the economy improves, we want to take measures that will impact on people’s lives, and therefore we will look at the threshold.” He was so keen to talk about the U-turn that he was revealing details she hadn’t even asked for!
“I made it really easy for the prime minister,” Badenoch said, and this at least was unarguable. Labour MPs cheered her. “I wonder how the public feel about a man who can’t give a straight answer to a simple question.” If any of the public were watching, they may have had questions about someone who hadn’t noticed what was happening in front of her. She wondered how Labour MPs would feel “when this inevitable U turn on winter fuel comes”. But it had come, and if their faces at that moment were any guide, they were feeling pretty good about it.
Badenoch had one question left. She opened it with a little speech attacking the cuts to winter fuel payments. “His MPs hate this,” she said. “He can’t see them, but they all look sick … ” At this point she was drowned out by the laughter from Labour MPs, who were busily waving and pointing at the faces of the Conservatives behind Badenoch.
“They’re laughing!” Badenoch yelled, trying to be heard. “They’re laughing!” The Speaker had to rise twice and threaten to start throwing people out, so delighted were the government benches at all this.
Starmer stood and turned to survey his party. “They look in pretty good form,” he said, and they all cheered. He turned back to Badenoch. “And there’s lots of them.” Somehow, he’d walked into the room to announce a humiliating U-turn, and found he was a winner.
Towards the end of the session, just as Tory spin doctors were getting ready to tell us what their leader had meant to say, Lee Anderson of Reform rose to ask about refugee returns. Starmer dodged that, and observed that Anderson was “standing in” for party leader Nigel Farage, now revealed to be on holiday even as our relationship with Europe was being renegotiated.
“There was no sign of him yesterday,” the prime minister went on. “He was the first through the E-Gates!” MPs fell about at the thought of Farage in a straw hat dashing to take advantage of shorter queues at the border. Richard Tice, well-used to his leader’s unwillingness to get involved in the hard slog bits of the job, actually bounced up and down in pleasure, and Anderson clapped his hands, though this may have been sarcastic. “Nice work if you can get it,” Starmer commented, though the same could be said about prime ministers who find the opposition has failed to show up.
