Sir Keir Starmer endured a bruising Prime Minister’s Questions as Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Labour MPs of betraying their own leader and abandoning him for style over substance.
In a fiery Commons clash just days after Starmer announced his resignation, Badenoch delivered one of her most cutting attacks yet, claiming the Prime Minister had been discarded by his own party in favour of Andy Burnham.
The Tory leader mocked Labour’s apparent enthusiasm for their new political star, telling MPs that Starmer had been cast aside “for a pair of eyelashes and a black T-shirt”.
The remark sparked uproar across the chamber and underlined the increasingly bitter atmosphere surrounding Labour’s leadership transition.
Badenoch argued that Starmer’s downfall was not the result of bad luck or opposition attacks, but of a Labour Party that had turned on its own leader after months of infighting, policy reversals and growing public discontent.
The real problem is the Labour Party,” she declared.
“He U-turned again and again and again to appease them, and now they’ve abandoned him.”
The Conservative leader painted a picture of a Prime Minister deserted by ministers, undermined by backbenchers and ultimately sacrificed by the very MPs who once championed him.
As Labour MPs jeered from the benches opposite, Badenoch doubled down, suggesting that replacing Starmer with Burnham would do little to solve the party’s deeper problems.
The exchange became so heated that Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle was forced to intervene, reminding both leaders about parliamentary language and decorum.
Starmer, however, attempted to hit back by turning his fire on the Conservatives and their turbulent recent history in government.
The outgoing Prime Minister insisted he would leave Britain in a stronger position than he found it and mocked the revolving door of Tory leaders who preceded him.
The test for every Prime Minister is handing over the country in better shape than you found it,” he said.
“I know I can do that.”
In a pointed swipe at the Conservatives, he added: “Which is more than can be said for her predecessor, her predecessor’s predecessor, and her predecessor’s predecessor’s predecessor.”
The chamber erupted once again as MPs traded shouts across the floor.
Yet despite Starmer’s attempt at counterattack, the political reality hanging over the Commons was impossible to ignore.
For the first time since announcing his departure, the Prime Minister faced Parliament as a leader on borrowed time.
With Labour’s attention increasingly shifting towards who comes next, Badenoch seized the opportunity to portray a government already looking beyond its current leader.
For Starmer, it was a stark reminder that in Westminster, once colleagues begin discussing your successor, the political clock is already ticking.
Leave a Comment