Truss should be wary of this PMQs pitfall

Whenever a PMQs is meant to be a crunch moment, it rarely turns out to be. Having sat through pretty much everyone since David Cameron versus Gordon Brown, my experience is that a prime minister under pressure turns up with a series of well-prepared, defensive lines that they fall back on in answer to every question. The leader of the opposition’s questions are too long, allowing the prime minister some wriggle room as they grit their teeth and get to the end of the session. The consensus is that it wasn’t as much of a disaster as it could have been and Westminster moves on to the next crunch point.

Now, today is a unique occasion. I cannot think of another PMQs where the prime minister has turned up having U-turned on so much of what they said the week before. If Keir Starmer keeps his question short – can the Prime Minister confirm taxes will go up? – he will be able to inflict some damage.