PMQs: Boris Johnson rallies the troops, but still has no answers

Sir Keir Starmer enjoyed yet another Prime Minister’s Questions today, with the Prime Minister having offered a veritable feast of failure for the Labour leader to sink his teeth into.

Boris Johnson has spent the past week shooting himself repeatedly in the foot, before turning the gun on his colleagues by forcing them to defend his inane speeches and policies.

The past seven days have seen Mr Johnson lose his place in a speech when he had the words in front of him, offer more insight into Peppa Pig World than industry support at a business conference, and pass a social care plan that will hit the poorest hardest.

Given his week from hell, the Tory backbenchers returned in droves to support him, or at least get recommendations on more family holiday destinations.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. Picture: PA

Greeted with a roar of approval the moment he stood up, MPs expected a performance, and man who lately has had no answers to remind everyone why he is a generational politician.

Instead, they got Mr Johnson once again fundamentally misunderstanding the self explanatory format of Prime Minister’s Questions, as he deflected and asked his own questions instead of answering.

Sir Keir skewered him over his social care plan, labelling the cap a “working class dementia tax” because poorer families face losing proportionally more of their assets than wealthier ones.

Mr Johnson’s intellectual heft was to simply deny it, then claim his plan was great because it cleaned up the mess left by the Clement Atlee Government. A topical and powerful defence.

Most damning of all for the Prime Minister, was that Sir Keir was comfortable enough to make jokes.

As the Tory MPs barracked Sir Keir, the Labour leader said: “I see they have turned up this week, Prime Minister.”

Mr Johnson, so often known for his charisma and ability to win a room could only mutter and shake his head as the Labour leader smiled.

He was also unable to respond with a quip as Sir Keir joked about strained relations between Downing Street and Mr Sunak’s No 11.

Tory MPs turned up ready to see a Prime Minister come out fighting. He didn’t deliver.