Keir Starmer has of late come under pressure from his shadow cabinet to, in their words, stop ‘boring everyone to death’. In response, the Labour leader has told his colleagues that really ‘what’s boring is being in opposition’. However, the comments appear to have got under his skin. At today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer was notably more confrontational – attacking Boris Johnson on several counts.
For all the current criticism of Starmer, stepping out of his comfort zone comes with risks of its own
After the Labour leader failed to capitalise on Johnson’s internal party woes last week, following the Prime Minister’s no-confidence vote from his own MPs, Starmer attempted to remedy things. He used the session to call Johnson an ‘ostrich prime minister’ with his head in the sand. Starmer went on the offensive, pointing out low growth in the economy and criticism Johnson has received from his own MPs.
The Prime Minister attempted to return fire by pressing Starmer for a position on the planned rail strikes – and bringing up his government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
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