PMQs: If at first Boris Johnson does not succeed, he will simply lie, lie, lie again

Boris Johnson faced off against Keir Starmer today following the release of the Sue Gray report. The Labour leader peppered his contributions with references to the ‘partygate’ scandal and the incredible fact that the Prime Minister is currently being investigated by the police, advising Johnson to “sharpen how he answers questions under interview” and warning that his characteristic bluster is “not going to work with the police”. The main thrust of Starmer’s argument, however, focused on the economic trajectory of the UK. He described Johnson and Rishi Sunak as “the Tory Thelma and Louise, hand in hand as they drive the country off the cliff and into the abyss of low growth and high tax”.

Starmer highlighted that growth in the decade before the pandemic had been lower than under the last Labour government, saying: “If the Tories matched our record on growth, we would have £30bn more to spend on public services without having to raise a single tax.” He also stressed that while the government is raising taxes on working people through the National Insurance contributions hike, it rejected a windfall tax on gas and oil companies to help people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and will today order MPs to cut taxes for banks. Johnson and Sunak are “protecting oil companies and bank profits” while taxing working people, Starmer told MPs. Johnson dismissed the accusations, reiterating his untrue claim that the UK has the fastest growing economy of the G7.

Johnson’s willingness to mislead parliament was crucial to the wider point Starmer made today: he simply has “no respect for decency or honesty”. First, the Labour leader addressed Johnson’s claim made during his statement on the Sue Gray report that Starmer “failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile” as director of public prosecutions (a dead-cat strategy his ministers have struggled to defend). The Prime Minister was, Starmer argued, “parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists”. Later, the Labour leader directed MPs to “one of the most absurd claims made on behalf of Operation Save Big Dog” by Sunak and Johnson in The Times last weekend – namely that they are “tax-cutting Conservatives” while at the same time proposing a tax burden not seen since the Second World War.

Rather than focus on the Gray report, the Labour leader today linked the rampant dishonesty of the Prime Minister on his current scandal to wider issues: on parties during Covid, he lies; on economic growth, he lies; on taxes, he lies; and, when presented with his own wrongdoing, the Prime Minister lies again in a transparent attempt to distract. “I can take it when it’s aimed at me, but I won’t accept it when he gaslights the British public, writing absurd articles about cutting taxes at a time when he’s squeezing working people to the pips,” Starmer told parliament. Flooding the public sphere with lies is a strategy that Johnson has long advocated and pursued. But, with his character on display in the furore of the ‘partygate’ scandal, Starmer is hoping that it will now prove Johnson’s undoing.