PMQs verdict: witty Keir Starmer leaves out of touch Rishi Sunak unable to answer questions on Rwanda Bill

Three times the Labour leader asked the Prime Minister what has happened to 4,250 vanished migrants that are supposed to be sent to Rwanda, and three times Sunak avoided the question. 

This seemed to invigorate Starmer, who has become increasingly confident and sharp at the despatch box during PMQs. Just before Christmas, hacks checked with Labour if the leader had a new joke writer. At the time, we were told that it was simply that the government was providing Starmer and his team more material - and that was once again the case today.

Starmer started by asking: “The government has been forced to admit that it has lost contact with 85% of the 5,000 people earmarked for removal to Rwanda. Has he found them yet?” To this the PM responded with his stock answer, that Starmer doesn’t have a plan and with Labour in charge “we would just go back to square one” (which is not one I’m convinced will land with voters).

It was after the third non-answer, all along the same lines, that the Labour leader really got into his groove. To laughter from across the House, and even in the Press Gallery, he quipped: “He hasn’t got a clue where they are, has he? I can tell you one place they aren’t and that’s Rwanda because the only thing they’ve sent to Rwanda is Cabinet ministers.”

And Starmer landed another good joke on the reports that Sunak initially opposed the Rwanda plan, saying: “When he sees his party tearing itself apart, hundreds of bald men scrapping over a single broken comb, doesn’t he wish that he had the courage to stick to his guns?”

Embarrassingly for the Prime Minister, he was reprimanded by the Speaker of the House, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, when he tried to brandish a human rights advice Starmer had written. He was told: “When I stand up, please sit down. Can I just say we don’t use props in this House and I will certainly ensure that if you do need reminding, I certainly will.”

Starmer finished by attacking Sunak over his warring Tory Party. The Labour leader said: “He has been brutally exposed by his own MPs yet again. He has got one party chair who says she hopes the Lords will rip his Rwanda deal to pieces. He’s got two more who had to quit because they don’t think it’ll work. All of them appointed by him, all now in open revolt against his policy, each other, and reality.”

The only barb in return from Sunak, was attacking Starmer for previously providing legal advice to Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group which is about to be proscribed in UK, while he worked as a lawyer. A Labour spokesman said: “The nature of being a lawyer is that you represent and give advice to a whole range of clients including people that you don’t agree with.”

At the end of PMQs Sunak once again hailed the economy, saying inflation has halved, on the day it was announced the CPI had increased again, and urged voters to “stick with the plan that’s delivering a better future for Britain”. With food prices still skyrocketing, energy bills going up and NHS waiting lists at record levels, I’m not sure there’s many people that would agree with him. 

Verdict

Another victory for Starmer, who went through a spell of poor performances at PMQs last autumn. However now he is brimming with confidence and wit, while Sunak sounds serious and repetitive. The Prime Minister didn’t land one obvious gag, and his comment about the economy booming, on the day that inflation has ticked back up, sounded overly positive and out of touch.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to 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.