PMQs: Sorry seems to be the hardest word

The Labour leader was well set up for today’s session of Prime Minister’s Questions. Boris Johnson’s comment that “too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures” remains fresh in everyone’s mind – and Keir Starmer didn’t waste the opportunity to hold the Prime Minister’s feet to the fire. This afternoon saw the Labour leader ask the PM, repeatedly, to apologise for blaming care workers for the high number of coronavirus deaths and to take responsibility for the utter shambles we’ve seen unfold in care homes over the past few months.

And Johnson, in turn, repeatedly refused to do so. It appears that sorry really is the hardest word. Instead, he told the House that “the last thing I wanted to do is blame care workers”. In keeping with the line frantically pushed by No 10 since his outburst on care homes earlier in the week, the PM attempted to frame his comment as a lesson in “hindsight” for the UK: “The one thing that nobody knew early on in this pandemic is that the virus was being passed asymptomatically.” He added: “Perhaps captain hindsight would like to tell us whether he knew.” Starmer reminded the PM how he raised concerns on guidance two months ago, and that there had been repeated warnings from the care sector on discharging patients into care homes and delays in providing protective equipment.

This week’s session was not a lesson in hindsight for the Labour leader, but one of compassion for the PM. “We owe our NHS workers so much,” he reminded us as he asked Johnson to rethink the parking charges for health workers. On both care workers and NHS staff, Starmer’s usual attack on Johnson’s competence gave way today to a more determined effort to emphasise that this is a PM who simply does not care. For the Labour leader, today served as both a chance to remind people that the ‘nasty party’ has not just gone away in the coronavirus crisis, and to build that moral case for socialism – something he spoke about in his leadership campaign. “By refusing to apologise,” Starmer explained. “The PM rubs salt into the wounds of the very people that he stood on his front door and clapped.”