Keir Starmer accused Conservative MPs and ministers of complicity in supporting a prime minister with a history of indefensible behavior as he condemned and mocked what he called the “dying spectacle” of Boris Johnson’s political career.
Focusing in particular on Johnson’s decision earlier this year to promote Chris Pincher to deputy chief whip despite a known history of sexually predatory behaviour, Starmer said all Tory MPs who still support Johnson have “no an ounce of integrity’.
In an often brutal performance at Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labor leader mocked ministers still serving in government, such as Nadhim Zahawi, the newly promoted chancellor who sat next to Johnson on the Tory front bench.
“What a pathetic sight,” Starmer said after Johnson accused him of poor policy decisions. “The death knell of his political career is to repeat this nonsense. And those who remained – only in office, because no one else is ready to humiliate themselves anymore. The Charge of the Light Brigade. Have some self respect. For a week, he had them defend his decision to advertise a sexual predator. Every day the lines he forced them to follow were false.
Johnson, facing what is always likely to be an extremely difficult PMQ given the widespread expectation that he could be removed immediately after a series of ministerial resignations, insisted he would remain in office.
However, Johnson again apologized for making Pincher the deputy chief whip in February after Pincher apologized for an alleged grope in an earlier ministerial role in 2019.
Starmer opened the session by reading the words of one man who said he “froze” as he was groped by Pincher. “I accept that it is not easy to listen to. But it’s a reminder to everyone who supports this prime minister how serious the situation is,” Starmer said. “He knew that the accused minister had previously engaged in predatory behavior, yet he elevated him to power – why?”
Johnson said he regretted the promotion, adding: “As soon as I found out about the allegations that he just read, about the complaint that was made, he lost his status as a Conservative MP.”
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But the Prime Minister refused to deny calling his former colleague “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” when asked by Starmer.
The Labor leader has repeatedly sought to highlight the role of Tory MPs in backing Johnson despite a series of earlier scandals, including parties to break the Downing Street blockade.
“He’s only in power because he’s been propped up for months by a corrupt party defending the indefensible,” Starmer said. “Anyone who has anything for them will be long gone from their front bench. In the midst of a crisis, doesn’t the country deserve more than a bunch of nodding dogs on the Z-list.”
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