PMQs: Boris Johnson branded a “part-time Prime Minister”

After a long period without having seen the Prime Minister, his self-imposed political isolation came to a close today. The leader of the Labour Party devoted the whole of today’s session of Prime Minister’s Questions to attacking Boris Johnson over his woefully lacking response to the flooding following Storm Dennis. Jeremy Corbyn told the PM that he had learnt a lot from his own visit to affected residents in Wales and suggested that he “try it one day”. He castigated Johnson for sulking in a mansion rather than responding to the crisis, and cited memes asking not ‘where’s Wally?’ but “where’s Boris?”

The Labour leader pulled no punches as he maintained a concerted line of attack, never deviating from the issue of flooding that has affected thousands of homes across the country. He kicked off by asking whether the PM agrees with the Conservative leader of Derbyshire County Council that he has turned his back on the communities affected by the floods. The response from the PM was that the government had been “working flat out” to support those affected – amid cries of “where?” from across the chamber. Johnson cited an investment of £2.6bn in flood defences and indicated that a further £4bn would come – figures that Corbyn quickly pointed out represented half of what the Environment Agency said were required.

The Islington MP offered a damning condemnation of Johnson’s record on responding to crises when in office. He reminded the House that the PM was late responding to the 2011 London riots, that he refused to come back from his holiday on a private island when Iranian general Soleimani was killed, and accused the PM of spending the last week ignoring the flooding with “his head in the sand” in a mansion in Kent. He asked how the public could be expect to trust such a “part-time” PM and pointed out that, instead of being out in the country supporting the people suffering, Johnson was busy “schmoozing” Tory Party donors at an event last night. He challenged Johnson to convene a COBRA meeting, pointing out that the last time he did so was the general election. Describing the current situation as worse, he questioned why the PM wasn’t doing so again: “Is he just pretending to care when he doesn’t really care at all because there are no votes on the line at the moment?”

The PM, perhaps unsurprisingly, came off badly in a questions session that has followed a deafening period of silence on his part while people across the country have struggled to respond to dire flooding. Corbyn’s rebuke that the PM was not prioritising the crisis because an election is not looming felt particularly poignant as MPs also asked the government to commit greater support and resources for their residents. The PM had little by way of response. He twice lamely rolled out the line that there had been a “constant stream of ministerial activity” to angry shouts of “where were you?” – certainly a question that many people in England and Wales will be asking themselves this week.