PMQs today - snap verdict: Keir Starmer punishes Rishi Sunak over Tory donor Frank Hester's 'racist language'

Keir Starmer punished Rishi Sunak for refusing to give back the £10million donation from businessman Frank Hester, who reportedly said MP Diane Abbott should be shot.

The Labour leader attacked Sunak all PMQs about the Tory donor's alleged comments, asking: "Is the Prime Minister proud to be bankrolled by someone using racist and misogynistic language when he says the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Abbott) ‘makes you want to hate all black women?'”

It took more than a day for Sunak to say those words were racist, with No10 initially saying they were "wrong". In PMQs, he said: "The alleged comments were wrong, they were racist, he has rightly apologised for them and that remorse should be accepted."

When Starmer accused him of lacking "courage", the Prime Minister hit back: "He talks about language, he might want to reflect on the double standards of his deputy leader calling her opponents scum, his shadow foreign secretary comparing Conservatives to Nazis and the man that he wanted to make chancellor talking about lynching a female minister." The Prime Minister had left Starmer with plenty other ammunition to attack him with. Firstly, former Tory Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson moved to right-wing rivals Reform UK, saying his parents would not vote for him in the Conservative Party.

Then, the government quietly announced that it was extending the early release scheme for criminals to an unprecedented 60 days to cope with prison overcrowding. Starmer didn't even need to mention this, and instead focused on the government's "ambition" to abolish National Insurance.

Sunak twice ignored Starmer's question about whether state pensions or the NHS would get cut to fund this. The Labour leader cleverly linked the PM to Liz Truss with his final question: "£46 billion of unfunded commitments … They tried that under the last administration and everybody else is paying the price.

“But two weeks ago the Prime Minister promised to crack down on those spreading hate, today he shrunk at the first challenge. Last week he promised fantasy tax cuts, now he is pretending it can all be paid for with no impact on pensions or the NHS."

The Prime Minister claimed the government was protecting pensions, investing in the NHS, and supporting working people with tax cuts, adding: “All we have from him is a £28 billion unfunded promise."

PMQs verdict - Starmer finds his voice again

Sunak has been getting stronger in PMQs after a wobbly couple of months. His backbenchers in particular have offered him a lot of support, with Starmer frequently drowned out. However today, the Labour leader found his voice once again and his ammunition was too much for the Prime Minister.

Starmer started strongly by asking why Sunak hadn't handed back the £10m from Tory donor Frank Hester, who reportedly said MP Diane Abbott "should be shot" and she "makes you want to hate all black women?". Sunak's line that "remorse should be accepted" sounded hollow in the week the government is announcing its new definition of extremism.

However, despite leaving it to the end, Starmer was strongest when talking about the government's apparent ambition to abolish National Insurance contributions. Labour says this will cost £46billion a year, and Starmer asked whether this would mean "cuts to state pensions or cuts to the NHS?"

Sunak dodged the question, and accused Labour of wanting to raise taxes. Starmer saved his best line to the end, cleverly linking the National Insurance abolition to Liz Truss by saying: "All we need is now is an especially hardy lettuce and it could be 2022 all over again." That gag will likely remind voters of the mortgage chaos of the mini-Budget and is funny enough to land on the bulletins. Starmer comes out on top this week.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.