Prime Minister’s Questions took a rather bizarre twist this afternoon when the Labour leader ended up demanding Boris Johnson apologise to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Prime Minister reportedly complained to Tory MPs last night about Justin Welby’s criticism of the government’s Rwanda asylum policy. Sources at the meeting said Johnson had claimed Welby was ‘less vociferous’ about Vladimir Putin than he had about this policy – something the Church of England has already condemned as a ‘disgraceful slur’. Johnson did not apologise, instead saying:
I was slightly taken aback for the government to be criticised over the policy that we have devised to end the deaths at sea in the Channel as a result of cruel criminal gangs. I was surprised that we were attacked for that and actually Mr Speaker, do you know who proposed that policy first of all in 2004? It was David Blunkett, Mr Speaker.
The fundamental problem for Johnson is that his ‘getting on with the job’ line is hardly a long-term way of getting out of trouble
Starmer once questioned the Prime Minister over his character.
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