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.

I haven’t got back to watching PMQ because I despised Johnson and his braying backing Tory chorus. I’m glad to hear KS is finding his voice. Sunaks wife’s dealings will be his downfall again.

How do you feel about Rishi Sunak's treatment of Jeremy Corbyn?

I’ve stopped listening. He is unbearable to hear so I don’t bother anymore

You should watch some clips of Thatcher at the dispatch box!

It is not Starmer's problem of Sunak is weak and out of touch. Sunak can resign if he doesn't want to be there, none of us voted for him.

Hearing it now on R4 - bringing up Winchester is ridiculous and Sunak had a good answer

Petty politics from Starmer

You know the supporters are worried when all they've got is 'please stop being a meanie to our lame duck PM'

Yessss!

Exactly this!

Hahaha, the tory government is a shambles, Rishi might be trying to save it but the damage is dine. The UK is in the shit because of this and previous tory government policies.

YA absolutely U. Go for the jugular Kier!

Keir has no charisma, rishi little. What's more worrying is the extreme attitude on here is the pervasive idea that people who went to private school are evil, tories are evil etc. It's classist reverse snobbery and really nasty. Keir is super privileged too, he us a sir. If he wasn't labour he would be fair game for hatred too.
It seems some here want their politicians to be uneducated and to have not done well.

@Boomboom22 You realise you become a dame/sir for services to this country? It has zero to do with the amount of money you have. People are often knighted for services to community/charity. They still live their ordinary lives afterwards. Keir wasn’t born a knight, he earned it for his services to the legal system.

Rishi hasn’t done well for himself that’s the point. If you started with millions and make a few more it’s not an achievement is it. If you start with very little and make £7mil that’s a huge achievement. Surely Keir Starmer is everything the Tories claim to strive for. Went to the grammar schools they love so much, got himself an education and worked his way to the top of the legal career. That’s to be admired. Being born very wealthy, marrying someone even wealthier and then staying wealthy whilst telling the rest of us to stay poor? Less admirable.

Starmer is right to ask these questions, and highlight Sunak’s wealth and his wife’s dodgy tax affairs.
That is literally the opposition’s job.
Bullying, ffs! This message is hitting home as well, which is why the Tory bots are out in force!

Sunak is an over privileged little pipsqueak who has been seen and heart laughing at working class people.

Lol, why do these guys keep coming out with this gem that people are jealous that Sunak went to public school because we hate hard workers. Do you know how hard a child in a failing state school that wants to do well has to work? It's insulting that this tired trope keeps being trotted out.

And who cares about 'charisma'? Your mate Boris had tonnes, apparently, and that went well, didn't it?

Here's an interesting article from someone who went to a public school www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2021/aug/08/public-schoolboys-boris-johnson-sad-little-boys-richard-beard

It is questions to the Prime Minister, not the government as a whole.

The real questions that I'd like Keir Starmer to ask are not permitted under House of Commons rules. Sir Keir Starmer cannot refer to Boris Johnson as the industrial scale liar that he is, for example, under whom Rishi Sunak was willing to serve.

Oh god grow up. Should he not be questioned? Or do you think all tories should just be allowed to do what they like without being questioned. If anything I think he's going too soft

I really don’t think there’s anything clever or entertaining in relating policy decisions to the personal as is so often the case. I think all this ‘your wife is rich and doesn’t pay taxes’ is a superficial and easy distraction from discussing the substance of whatever issue is being examined.

I’d much rather see a detailed and rigorous discussion of the policy proposals (or the ongoing effects) based on evidence than ‘well you went to a really expensive public school, so why should we listen to you?’

it might not be as exciting as grandstanding, but it might actually produce some decent outcomes. And force ministers to really justify their policies.

Adversarial doesn’t have to mean aggressive jeering. It can simply relate to
the requirement for each party to produce evidence and justify their decisions, with the other party (the opposition) holding them to account.

Play the ball, not the player.

Which is to say that I think he should be throughly questioned on the substance of his government’s policies and actions. In meticulous detail.

That would actually require far more competence than the current pretending it’s some sort of roasting event at the debating society crap we currently get.

His obsession with Jeremy Corbyn is embarrassing! Every time Starmer hits a nerve with Sunak, he trots out the same old shite!

Fgs, bullying 🙄

It’s a farce. I don’t listen anymore but that clip from news was enough to remind me why.

@MarshaBradyo lol make your mind up. Last time you were on a political thread you were 'giving him a chance'. What's he done wrong ?

Haha really? You have a good memory but it’s been some time.

I thought he was a good choice initially but sadly not seeing much since then. What did you read?

You’re more likely to have me mixed up with another poster tbh

If Sunak can't cope with these very pertinent questions without being thrown off balance, he shouldn't be Prime Minister.

He didn't miss a heartbeat in pmqs. Just did the typical ignoring non-sequitur response and then added on his own insult. How anyone turns it in to bullying when it's the same old script hashed out with different actors for eons is beyond me.