Kemi Badenoch will “absolutely not” apologise for the language she used during PMQs. her spokesperson told reporters at a briefing afterwards.
The spokesperson said said he thought Badenoch had been nice to Keir Starmer in the chamber. she felt sorry for him. He said:
double quotation mark There was very little aimed at the prime minister. This was about a cabinet which has let him down, about a group of Labour MPs who have let him down. now they’ve got rid of him.
See 12.16pm for the Badenoch comments that prompted Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, to reprimand her for her language.
And see 1.31pm for a summary of her most harsh remarks.
Keir Starmer’s political spokesperson has said. he will remain as a backbench MP for the rest of this parliament when he leaves No 10. He said that the PM was “going to remain”.
There had been some speculation about Starmer standing down as MP for Holborn and St Pancras. Tony Blair and David Cameron both left the Commons soon after resigning as PM. But, as explained in a post on the blog on Monday, Blair. Cameron did not have to worry about their party losing the seat in the subsequent byelection.
At a post-PMQs briefing, asked if Starmer might take another cabinet job if offered one by Andy Burnham, the spokesperson said Starmer told his ministers this week that “this is the end of my journey,. this is not the end of yours”.
Andy Burnham is planning to move parts of the No 10 operation to Manchester as part of measures to devolve power away from London. Kiran Stacey reports.
Kemi Badenoch has been rebuked by the UK statistics watchdog over a “not wholly accurate” claim about government spending on benefits. the Press Association reports. PA says:
double quotation mark The Tory party released a document that said that “for the first time ever. the total welfare bill is now higher than total receipts from income tax” after the king’s speech last month.
In a letter to the Conservative leader, the UK Statistics Authority said that spending on social security does exceed income tax revenue,. that “this is not a recent or first-time occurrence.”
Figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) suggest this has been the case since at least 2011. the gap has narrowed in recent years, with the positions forecast to reverse in 2026/27, the watchdog said.
“We have reviewed the published statistics and assessed that this claim is not wholly accurate,” interim chair Penny Young wrote.
The Conservatives also focused mainly on out-of-work. sickness benefits in their wider statement and should have made clear that the “total welfare bill” included other benefits like the state pension, it added.
Young said: “Overall. we are concerned that the inaccuracy of the ‘first time ever’ element of the claim, combined with the absence of this contextual explanation, could lead to misunderstanding among members of the public about welfare spending.”
She added: “Given the prominence of this claim,. the evidence that it is not accurate, we hope that you might consider how best to clarify it so that it fully supports public understanding of trends in taxation and welfare spending.”
A Tory source said this was a line in a document and that it would be corrected.
This is not the first time in recent week the UK Statistics Authority has reprimaned the Tories over welfare figures. Last month it wrote to Badenoch saying that a claim she had made at PMQs about universal credit (UC) claims rising by 1.5m since Labour took office was misleading because most of those cases were people migrating from a predecessor benefit to UC. the replacement benefit.
Here is video of Keir Starmer defending his record at PMQs.
Shabana Mahmood has been told that her crackdown on refused asylum seekers. including the forcible removal of children from the UK, will cause “significant harm”, in an intervention by an independent watchdog. Rajeev Syal has the story.
My colleague Alexandra Topping has more on the altercation that took place between Kemi Badenoch. ministers after PMQs that Jess mentioned earlier. (See 1.36pm.)
According to the Tory version, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, delivered “a barb” at Badenoch,. Badenoch replied: “I’ll fight you all the way. You’re destroying children’s lives.”
According to the Labour version. it was Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, who criticised Badenoch as they were leaving the chamber, telling the Tory leader that what she said at PMQs was “absolutely outrageous”. And Badenoch apparently replied: “You are spiteful. I will keep talking about how spiteful you are.”
Kemi Badenoch will “absolutely not” apologise for the language she used during PMQs. her spokesperson told reporters at a briefing afterwards.
The spokesperson said said he thought Badenoch had been nice to Keir Starmer in the chamber. she felt sorry for him. He said:
double quotation mark There was very little aimed at the prime minister. This was about a cabinet which has let him down, about a group of Labour MPs who have let him down. now they’ve got rid of him.
See 12.16pm for the Badenoch comments that prompted Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, to reprimand her for her language.
And see 1.31pm for a summary of her most harsh remarks.
Jessica Elgot says Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary,. Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, confronted Kemi Badenoch about her comments (see 1.31pm ) outside the chamber after PMQs.
double quotation mark NEW - MPs say Bridget Phillipson. Liz Kendall confronted Kemi Badenoch about her language at PMQs today where she called Phillipson “spiteful” which Kendall said was outrageous. Badenoch reported to have said “I’m never going to stop talking about how spiteful you are”
double quotation mark Phillipson then hit back at Badenoch: “The public are going to find out who you really are.”
Labour sources say the Speaker’s intervention was about Badenoch’s comments about Phillipson.
double quotation mark Labour planning to complain to the Speaker. to the Tory whips - especially given Badenoch’s previous “Gestapo” comments
Kemi Badenoch is probably very happy with that performance. But some of her MPs will worry that she crossed a line,. that she is finding it hard to differentiate between effective parliamentary attack and sheer nastiness.
When a PM stands down, it is normal for their opponents to show a bit of decorum, tone down the criticism a bit, say something complimentary. wish them well for the future. Given that this is not Starmer’s last PMQs. there was no need for Badenoch to do this today – although at least a nod in this direction was probably expected. Perhaps she will manage it on Wednesday 15 July (probably Starmer’s last PMQs). although you would not bet on it on the basis of today.
Badenoch was dismissive and patronising towards Starmer but what was striking was what she said about four of his colleagues. This may have be an indication that. with Starmer out of the way, she is now on the hunt for other targets.
Not for the first time, she was brutal about Rachel Reeves, the chancellor. Badenoch said:
double quotation mark Starmer wouldn’t be in this mess if his chancellor had found money for the defence investment plan. The prime minister gave her the second most important job in Britain, she was the first female chancellor, she lives next door to him,. wouldn’t even come out to stand by him during his resignation speech. She was too busy getting ready for a selfie with the new leader. Does the prime minister feel let down by his chancellor?
Next in line for attack was Ed Miliband, the energy secretary. Badenoch said:
double quotation mark The chancellor isn’t the only person who let him down, the energy secretary is putting up bills. killing jobs. He was a failed Labour leader, rejected by the electorate, brought back from the wilderness by this man,. when the going got tough, he jumped into bed with the mayor of Manchester. It’s not the first time he’s betrayed someone close to him, is it? Does the prime minister think that his treachery should be rewarded by being appointed chancellor?
These comments were harsh, but not unprecedented. More surprising was what Badenoch said when she lashed out at Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary who is not a particularly prominent figure in the government–. who is a hate figure in some Tory circles where people are having to pay VAT on their children’s private school fees. Badenoch said:
double quotation mark She taxed private schools to pay for more teachers, but the number of teachers has gone down. It turns out appointing a spiteful class warrior as education secretary was a disaster.
Badenoch then aimed her invective at the entire PLP, saying they had planted “400 knives” in Starmer’s back. that they were not Labour MPs but “welfare MPs”. At this point Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, had had enough and delivered a reprimand to Badenoch for her language. This is rare, and a sign that at least one influential parliamentary thought she went too far.
Andy Burnham was not in the chamber, but Badenoch also took a swipe at him in her final question describing him as little more than “a pair of eyelashes. a black T-shirt”. This was probably the worst of all her jibes – not because it was rude (imagine a male MP saying something like that about a woman), but because there is nothing more fatal, or stupid, in politics than underestimating your opponents,. Burnham’s record in Makerfield suggests the Tories should be taking him very seriously.
Starmer dealt with this splurge of vitriol with good grace. He did not win with any zingers, but he emerged from the exchanges as the better person.
Alistair Strathern (Lab) asks about Gareth Southgate’s TV documentary about young men,. asks what can be done to ensure there are more male teachers in schools to provide role models.
Starmer says the family hubs programmes will deliver more opportunities for young people.
Richard Foord (Lib Dem) asks if Starmer has any advice for his successor.
Starmer says his advice would be don’t deliver austerity. And, since Foord is a Lib Dem, he would also say don’t wear a wetsuit.
Becky Gittins (Lab) asks about a dance event in her constituency.
Starmer commends her for it, but says he was glad he was not asked to join in.
John Lamont (Con) asks if the PM will set up an inquiry into the SNP embezzlement case.
Starmer says the SNP has serious questions to answer. But it is not addressing them. That is totally the wrong approach, he says.
Alex Baker (Lab) says elderly Gurkha veterans were assaulted at an event in Aldershort. She asks the PM to condemn it.
Starmer says this attack was “utterly disgraceful”. He says the Gurkhas have made a great contribution.
Martin Wrigley (Lib Dem) asks if social media companies should be treated as publishers. not platforms, making them liable for their content.
Starmer sums up actions already taken by the government on social media, but says there is “more to do”.
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