[ad_1]
The mantle of statesmanship has descended on Sir Keir Starmer. At PMQs he stood shoulder to shoulder with another great statesman, Donald Trump.
A few days ago, Starmer reported, they had a friendly and constructive meeting in Washington: “The President made absolutely clear his commitment to Article Five of NATO. Absolutely clear that he would have our backs.”
So that’s absolutely fine. Starmer assures us we can rely on Trump. Kemi Badenoch set out to show that she too can be statesmanlike. She praised Volodymyr Zelensky for keeping “a cool head”, and wondered what the Prime Minister was doing “after a challenging week” to rebuild the relationship between the Ukrainian and American Presidents.
“Challenging” is the term used by statesmen to mean a shameful row which was shown on live television. Starmer reassured the House that he has taken on the role of relationship councillor, and is speaking at frequent intervals to both Trump and Zelensky.
“We must not choose between the US and Europe,” Starmer added in his most statesmanlike manner. Over the years he has perfected the pious tone of voice in which statesmanlike platitudes should be delivered.
But how long could he and Badenoch keep this up? The Commons is designed for adversarial politics, not the maintenance of an implausible consensus.
Badenoch suggested we need an “entirely new approach to our economy” in order to assure our economic security, and because “people are hurting”.
“We were doing so well,” Starmer said in a rueful tone, which produced laughter. But he seemed relieved to be able to cast off the mantle of statesmanship, return to the normal exchange of insults and take cover, as he immediately did, in the £22 billion pound black hole left by the last Government.
Sir Oliver Dowden (Con, Hertsmere) reported that two private schools have closed in his constituency because Labour has imposed VAT on fees, said this was difficult for “the excellent local state schools including the one that I intended” as they don’t have room, and called on the PM to recognise the failure of the Government’s policy.
Starmer was stung, or perhaps just felt he was on shaky ground, for he retorted that “there’s no point the party opposite pretending that they’re interested in state education”.
“Liar!” Victoria Atkins shouted from the Conservative Front Bench.
That was more like it. The Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, made her withdraw her remark, which she did, but the House was no longer stuck in a wasteland of statesmanship.
[ad_2]
Source link
