Keir Starmer’s PMQs performance was painfully wooden

‘Such happy news amid such uncertainty’. The Speaker began PMQs with this tribute to Carrie and Boris’s baby. But his talk of ‘happy news amid such uncertainty’ might have referred to MPs tuning in via webcam whose living areas have been denuded of clutter. Last week, viewers got an eyeful of their MPs’ soft furnishings which proved a major distraction from politics. Honourable members have now realised that their utterances are much less interesting than their wallpaper. Today most of them appeared in plain white surroundings. Cheryl Gillan, a rare exception, had set up her camera in what looked like a magical grotto decorated with turquoise box-files.

The first secretary, Dominic Raab, was quizzed by Sir Keir Starmer. The Labour leader did his best to pose as a decent, intelligent parliamentarian who sought only to illuminate a set of thorny issues for an anxious populace. ‘Gotcha’ tactics would be beneath him.