To think Keir Starmer is bullying Rishi at PMQs?

[Keirplayfair]

Have been watching PMQs the past few weeks with my son because he is fascinated by the House of Commons at the moment.

Have been noticing the past three weeks that Keir's first questions to Rishi are incredibly personal, they feel more personal than usual to a PM.

Sort of examples I mean... (gist of questions not exact wording).

Last week:
Keir: well done on England and Wales in the world Cup. Rishi should we reorganise the non-dom loophole that you must know a lot about to bring in more tax?

Today:
Keir: well done England, hope we will say the same next week, commiserations to Wales. Winchester College costs £45K a year in fees. Down the road in Southampton, 4 out of 10 kids fail English and Maths at GCSEs.

Yes we know Rishi is rich, went to Winchester College, yes Keir is asking questions about the economy, wealth distribution but it just feels very... personal.

Has anyone else noticed this??

I'm not a Conservative voter by the way, sort of a floater but I feel that Keir's questions are being asked to try to throw Rishi off balance in a very personal way.

What is he going to say to Keir? Well you went to a state grammar school and your wife pays all her taxes? They tried to blame Keir for Jimmy Saville and said Angela Rayner was showing her knickers to the opposition. It doesn’t get more personal really.

Again, what personal attacks do you think Rishi can aim at Keir? What do you think can be criticised about his personal affairs? He prosecuted criminals. Rishi made millions in the financial crash by betting against the pound. Do you think Rishi is a good example?

I haven’t seen it OP so can’t say but that’s something I’ve liked about Starmer previously is that he doesn’t need to resort to personal jibes. It’s a shame if he’s going down that route.

I think conduct in parliament generally is awful. All shouting over each other and jeering. It’s school playground stuff. I’d like to politicians setting an example. If my DC shout over someone talking we would teach them that it’s rude!

We don’t need or want this ‘lefty loony’, ‘Tory scum’ rubbish anymore. Let’s focus on policy and content. Let’s have some standards.

No you are right OP! Keir should stand up, say “Rishi! You are doing a fantastic job! Literally nothing to criticise here! Keep up the good work!” And then all of Labour should clap.

What do you think the point of the fucking opposition is OP? And don’t you think Keir has something of a point?

Its like watching kids at a football match...

Don't know when's the last time I've heard kids bellowing "HYEEEEEEEAH HYEEEEEEEEAH HYEEEEEEEEEAH!"

Completely agree CloudBusted. These debates often don't achieve anything.

It’s what people want though, isn’t it? People loved Boris being ‘funny’ at PMQs and criticised Keir for being boring and lawyerly. Those stupid TV debates are just as bad. Everyone says they want politicians to be honest but, really, they just like to watch an entertaining argument.

I love the adversarial system. I've watched parliamentary questions at both the Welsh and Scottish parliaments. The nhs should give out dvds of those sessions to insomniacs. 🥱 😴
The Westminster sessions are lively, funny, and show MPs speed of thought. It's great viewing. Especially seeing one of the party leaders taking a pasting or being neutralised by the opposing leader's wit - never going to happen with Starmer or Sunak. Wit and swift though isn't a word you'd associate with either of those two ploddders.

I think Keir has a valid point but wasn't expecting him to go for the personal jugular every single week! It will become a but repetitive if he keeps doing it tbh.

The examples you've given don't really sound like personal attacks to me.

If Rishi Sunack had anything to come back at Starmer with I'm sure he would, but as a pp said he can hardly say oh your wife pays all her tax can he?

Sunak's comebacks tend to be "you wanted Corbyn to be leader" and "you won't denounce the unions". Every. Fucking. Week.

I'm embarrassed for the man. It's like watching a sixth former pretend to be PM 😬

Can we please stop using the word "bullying" (and "shaming") to describe literally every interaction between people where one person may have felt slightly bad or annoyed or the two people didn't completely agree on something?

Don’t forget, well 12 years ago Labour….

Honestly, they're both pathetic leaders. It's like,watching two whiny schoolboys. What an uninspiring choice for the next election. 😕

I agree Marsha. Watching PMQs was so depressing today for all of the wrong reasons.

Hahahahaha

Ohhhhh dear.

Both of them are just different kinds of scum, but the idea of bullying a Tory? LOL

Give over. They're soulless husks.

That's the point I suppose I'm making in a roundabout sort of way - if we didn't have this sixth-formesque debating society PMQs format maybe we'd attract better, more worthy politicians. Who would want to get into politics after watching today's PMQs?

Rishi hasn't made a comeback about Keir's school or Keir's marriage. Or Keir's tax returns.
because there was nothing to tell. Keir’s wife didn’t try to escape paying taxes.

I think he is doing exactly the right thing. It's not personal. 90% of schools are projected to run out of money this academic year, yet money that could support them is being handed to private schools in the form of tax allowances. It's completely wrong and Kier is rightly highlighting it.

I don't know why you're even bothering to get upset about the Tories who have stolen millions from us in the form of covid supplies (and given it to their mates) impoverished us with their Brexit ideals (and saved themselves their tax haven loot) and run down the NHS, which is killing us, while they're helping themselves to private health insurance.

They literally couldn't care less about us... which brings us onto the purpose of your email? Where do your loyalties lie?

<looks around house>

Ah! Found it!

<Takes out tiny violin 🎻 >

This is for you Rishi
<Plays Feed the Birds>

I mean seriously, boo fucking hoo, these MPs sign up for and actively partake in the petty ribbing and snide comments, my synagogues will never lie with a billionaire because someone points out he’s a billionaire.

Have the Tories sent out their bots in force today? This is the third Starmer bashing thread I’ve seen

Who would want to get into politics after watching today's PMQs?
it was absolutely ordinary PMQs. Keir Stamer was telling plain truth.

I mean, can it be any worse than Boris attacking Keir's prosecution record?

That would have been fine. What Johnson actually did was imply an internet conspiracy theory about Starmer was true. Just one more way he degraded the office of PM.

Starmer isn't actually attacking Sunkak personally (which I think would be a mistake), he's attacking open goals where it would be hypocritical of Sunak to defend them.

This was always the risk picking Sunak. If the other options weren't
Truss, Johnson again or Mordant he would have had no chance.

Sunak's comebacks tend to be "you wanted Corbyn to be leader" and "you won't denounce the unions". Every. Fucking. Week.
Agree @GreenLunchBox

it’s just pathetic.

Truss, Johnson again or Mordant he would have had no chance.

Starmer polled better than all of them. Johnson did a fine job of gutting the Tory party of any half way decent politicians and all that’s left are the dregs.

Keir Starmer has the advantage of being used to speaking in court, he knows exactly which buttons to press to bring out the truth of how the Tories behave & show the cracks in whatever policies they are proposing. I often wonder if he has tutored Angela Rayner as she too can give as good as she gets & show them for what they really are.