Boris Johnson came under sustained pressure at PMQs today to introduce tougher sanctions against Russia. Both Sir Keir Starmer and Ian Blackford pressed the Prime Minister on the matter, with the Labour leader opening his questions by arguing that given a sovereign country had been invaded, ‘if not now, when’ would the government unleash a full package of sanctions.
Starmer repeatedly said the Labour party was supportive of what had been announced so far but that it wanted much more from the government. This included cracking down on the Russian state-backed broadcaster RT, which he said should be prevented from spreading Vladimir Putin’s propaganda around the world. Johnson argued that this country has a culture of free speech, but that Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries had asked Ofcom to review the channel’s licence. He said:
‘We live in a democracy, Mr Speaker, and we live in a country that believes in free speech and I think it’s important that we should leave it up to Ofcom rather than to politicians to decide which media organisations to ban.’
Starmer’s pressure today will have highlighted anxiety on the Tory benches about whether the government is being tough enough
The exchanges between the two men were rather more cordial than usual, with Johnson repeatedly thanking Starmer for the support he had given the sanctions package already unveiled, and the Labour leader repeatedly talking about the importance of unity across the House on this matter.
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