David Cameron and Ed Miliband were both pretty good at Prime Minister’s Questions. Cameron carried an air of confidence and could brush off countless U-turns, while Miliband often built a solid and coherent case throughout his six questions.
Sure, they were no William Hague vs Tony Blair, but after years of Theresa May’s woodenness, Jeremy Corbyn’s misplaced sanctimony and Boris Johnson’s bluster, one has learned to appreciate the good times.
Rishi Sunak vs Keir Starmer remains in its early stages, but the latter currently enjoys the upper hand, thanks to several advantages his predecessors as opposition leader lacked.
First is experience. It doesn’t count for everything – one actually has to be able to learn from previous encounters. But Starmer, who has been asking the questions for two and a half years, has noticeably improved. Perhaps he finds it easier sparring with a more conventional partner. Regardless, whether attacking Sunak on Gavin Williamson or the windfall tax, his questions were held together by a clear theme, that of the prime minister’s perceived weakness.
Second, the flip side is Sunak’s lack of experience, with today being his third PMQs. Instead of pushing back on Williamson, he found himself stuck. On the one hand, his reply to Williamson’s resignation letter was notably warm, yet he still ended up admitting that appointing him was a mistake.
Tom Hamilton, a former aide to Ed Miliband and co-author of a book alongside Standard columnist Ayesha Hazarika on PMQs called Punch and Judy Politics, pointed out on Twitter that Cameron’s response to a line of questioning about Williamson would have been something like:
“He’s already resigned, what more do you want, why are you asking about something that’s already happened, do you read the papers?”
Starmer’s third advantage is timing. The Tories have been in government for 12 years. When Miliband made a cost of living attack, Cameron would simply point out he was cleaning up Labour’s mess. A decade on, Sunak is only in the job because he is cleaning up the fallout from Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget.
Finally, Starmer has what his predecessors never enjoyed – a large and consistent polling lead. It means when he stands up, instead of being greeted with silence (Corbyn) or indifference (Miliband), he hears cheers.
Meanwhile, despite some narrowing of the polls, the Tory Party remains fractured and fractious. The moves against Williamson, a Sunak ally, were also an indirect attack on the prime minister. Many more Starmer wins at PMQs and panic may yet return to the Tory benches.
Elsewhere in the paper, the Republican ‘red wave’ did not materialise, but the party looks likely to win the House of Representatives while the Senate remains on a knife-edge.
In the comment pages, Rohan Silva says Elon Musk in charge at Twitter has major Liz Truss disasterclass vibes. Marcus Davey, CEO and artistic director at the Roundhouse, argues now is the wrong time to cut arts funding. While Iain Griffin, Founder of Seatfrog, says nationalisation is not the answer to Britain’s rail misery.
And finally, with the usual whine that my furthest work trips have been to Sunderland (nice but cold), Belfast (also nice but even colder) and a nuclear power station, Maddy Mussen stayed at the real White Lotus hotel in Sicily, a Four Seasons scented with 40 different types of lemon tree. Read to the end for a truly excellent Donald Trump (a former guest) -related pun.
