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Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Mrs Rayner's tone was markedly less fiery. A tigress tamed. A curry taken down from vindaloo to korma: QUENTIN LETTS on Prime Minister's Questions
With Sir Keir Starmer still not back from foreign jaunts – for so unexciting a man to have such wanderlust is psychologically intriguing – it fell to Angela Rayner to do the honours at PMQs. On Tuesday she had chaired Cabinet. Now she was at the despatch box using those hallowed words normally reserved for prime ministers: 'This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues; I shall have further such meetings later today.' It is rare to hear a deputy use the revered formula. Usually they will simply say: 'I have been asked to respond.' Has Ms Rayner started to fancy her chances of replacing stodgy Starmer? Beside her sat Rachel Reeves, once talked of as her rival. On her other side: Yvette Cooper, another whose share price has fallen. Ms Rayner's aide, Mark Ferguson, sat behind her with a folder of prompt notes fatter than a Harry Potter hardback. Team Rayner had prepared in depth for this test flight. But sometimes you so over-prepare that you lose spontaneity. 'If they ask you about the rape-gangs inquiry, aim for statesmanship,' her advisers possibly said. Sure enough, the Tories ' front man, Chris Philp, focused on that inquiry and on immigration. Mr Philp can be a staccato performer but he did all right. He was trim, clear, nicely regretful when talking about Sir Keir's mishandling of the grooming gangs scandal. Not that the usual, blurty Philp was entirely absent. His shirt collars were askew and he did a lot of that frowning that lends him the look of a man trying to suppress dreadful burps. A Leander rowing club course marshal had possibly been mugged in Henley to provide Ms Rayner with her blue blazer and white trousers. Compared to the usual Rayner fashion disasters, jolly smart. She twice thanked Mr Philp for his 'tone' on the rape scandal. What she probably meant was 'your boss Badenoch has been annoyingly outspoken on this issue and it is costing us votes'. Ms Rayner's own tone was markedly less fiery than of old. A tigress tamed. A curry taken down a few pegs from vindaloo to korma. Here was a reduced-sodium, semi-skimmed, low-cal Rayner, keen to look composed. Her voice sounded as if it had fluff on the stylus. The original Rayner – Rayner Classic, as marketing executives might say – leapt up to the table, whacked the box, yabber-dabbered and laughed a lot. Ange Mark II was eager to portray dignity and open-mindedness. She leaned nonchalantly on the despatch box. She stood at a sideways angle instead of her former full-chested stance. She praised a Tory MP for some pub-charity effort in his constituency. And it all felt... flat. Engineers had not succeeded in removing all the old characteristics. Prescottian linguistic glitches were still evident. She spoke of 'Italia' instead of Italy, complained that the past government had 'spivved money up the wall' and claimed on some spending matter that 'we've given the biggest amount of increase'. Such things are minor. What may matter is any loss of verve, any sense that she has been made less authentic to suit her ambitions. As PMQs ended there was a pause as the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, ran to the despatch box. The thudding as of rhino hooves. Clerks' papers fluttered and some water glasses nearby rippled. Ms Alexander, a likeably straightforward sort, announced the latest diminution of the c.£100billion HS2 railway. What a shameful episode for our political class, for past ministers, yes, but also mandarins, consultants, commentators, think-tankers, economists, forecasters and grubby lobbyists. Big Heidi had an attack of the Rayners when she tried talking about Wales and spoke, twice, about 'Relsh Wailways'. Of greater interest was a question from Clive Efford (Lab, Eltham) who hoped that civil servants who signed HS2 contracts would be asked why they approved spending sometimes before job specifications were set.
New Statesman
2 days ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
PMQs review: The grooming gangs scandal continues to shake Parliament
Photo by House of Commons Kemi Badenoch must be fuming that Keir Starmer is flying back from the G7 in Canada right now, with Angela Rayner standing in for him at PMQs and convention dictating that the Leader of the Opposition also offers up a deputy. So it was that in a week where the headline topic remains the grooming gang scandal that Badenoch has decided is one of her key passion projects, it was one of her shadow ministers asking the questions. Badenoch has chosen not to have a regular deputy for these occasions, offering the job to a revolving cast of Tory frontbenchers. Unsurprisingly given what was obviously going to be the main issue, today it was the shadow home secretary. No, not Robert Jenrick (though you'd be forgiven for the mistake), but Chris Philp. That's the same Chris Philp who appeared with Badenoch on a panel of grooming gang survivors, parents and activists yesterday morning, during which they were urged that 'all the political stuff needs to be put aside' by survivor Fiona Goddard. And it's also the same Chris Philp who seemed to show very little interest in the scandal until Elon Musk brought it back to Westminster's attention in January, including for the almost two years in which he was policing minister in the Home Office. All of this meant that, when Philp began his questioning by noting he had met with survivors on Tuesday, he was greeted to heckles that he'd never met with any of them while in office. He brushed this off, adopting a dignified tone as he asked about survivors' justifiable insistence that the national inquiry announced on Monday will be fully independent, have statutory powers, cover all affected towns and put the affected individuals at its centre. It was an attitude that won him appreciation from Rayner, who struck a stateswomanlike poise as she thanked him for 'his tone and for putting the survivors central', adding wryly that she hoped members of his party would follow his lead. Badenoch's own tactic of ferociously hammering the government over Louise Casey's report, most notably in the Chamber on Monday afternoon, has drawn criticism – including from victims, and from Casey herself. The air of cross-party respect didn't last. Before long Philp was channelling his inner Badenoch, calling on Rayner to apologise for Starmer's claim in January (which the Prime Minister surely now regrets) that those calling for an inquiry were 'jumping on a bandwagon' and 'amplifying what the far right is saying'. Rayner responded with the universal Labour defence of pointing out what the Tories had done in office: 'precisely nothing'. It was notable that, while Philp raged, Rayner was flanked on both sides by female colleagues (Lucy Powell and Yvette Cooper to one side, Rachel Reeves and Bridge Phillipson on the other). It was a powerful image. From there, we got an unedifying spat over illegal migrant numbers, the failure of the Rwanda scheme, asylum accommodation and – a nice new addition, presumably due to Rayner's brief – house building. Philp walked into a number of traps Badenoch could have told him were coming. Bringing up immigration at PMQs enables whoever is representing the government to return to their comfort ground of the Conservatives' own record. Philp's retort that the Rwanda scheme 'never started' isn't quite the win he thinks it is, given one of the key reasons voters abandoned the Tories was a feeling the party was so incompetent it couldn't even do what it was said it wanted to. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe As for his line wondering aloud how Rayner 'has the brass neck to claim she's got it under control, when the numbers crossing the Channel this year are the highest in history', Philp should have guessed his adversary would be prepared. And she was, punching the Boriswave bruise (nearly a million arrivals in 2022-3 alone), reeling off stats, and condemning Philp for the 'one million pounds a day 'spiffed' up the wall' (an allusion, perhaps, to Boris Johnson's similar turn-of-phrase discussing money spent on historic child abuse investigations – at any rate, a new one for Hansard). It wasn't the finest audition piece from Philp. One wonders why Robert Jenrick wasn't chosen to stand in (although the answer to that may be apparent). Rayner brought less of her characteristic fire to today's proceedings, and all in all it was a somewhat anticlimactic session, with the mood around the House gradually souring. We had Lib Dem and SNP MPs ask about cuts to disability benefits, designed to rile up Labour backbenchers who are queasy about what Liz Kendall will be announcing later today. And instead of an explosive intervention from Reform's MPs, we got two planted questions: one about a Reform council cutting a fire engine in Nuneaton, and another about the dodgy arithmetic behind Nigel Farage's claim he could save £7bn of government spending by cutting DEI programmes. We did hear Rayner signalling that the UK would not join the US were Donald Trump to choose to attack Iran, and stressing the need for a diplomatic approach. But given Keir Starmer insisted the US had no intentions of bombing Iran just before Trump implied it was a live consideration, who can say. (This week's New Statesman magazine is a War Special, covering everything going on in the Middle East, including an insight into Benjamin Netanyahu's mind from his former head of personal security and a deep dive into what Iran will do next by Lawrence Freedman, for once you're done digesting PMQs.) Question of the day probably goes to Nick Timothy, who noted that channel crossings are up this year, and asked whether, if they fail to go down, the Home Secretary's job could be at risk. Yvette Cooper has so far not been a major target of the Tory frontbench, with the force of their efforts aimed more at Rachel Reeves, Ed Miliband and Bridget Phillipson. Is Timothy testing out a new attack line for the Conservatives? Or is he simply reminding his colleagues of his presence should a shadow ministerial vacancy come up? [See also: Keir Starmer's grooming gang cowardice] Related
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Watch in full: Angela Rayner faces Chris Philp in PMQs as Starmer returns from G7 summit
Watch as Angela Rayner faced Chris Philp at PMQs on Wednesday (18 June), filling in for Sir Keir Starmer as he travels back from the G7 summit in Canada. As per convention, the opposition also nominates someone to stand in its leader's place. The shadow home secretary will be replaced Kemi Badenoch at the despatch box today. The deputy prime minister faced questions from MPs in the Commons, with the grooming gangs national inquiry, which was announced on Saturday (14 June), at the forefront. This week's PMQs came ahead of an announcement that HS2 is expected to be delayed by at least a further two years, with transport secretary Heidi Alexander telling MPs that there is 'no reasonable way' to meet the 2033 target. The government is also publishing its bill to reduce the welfare budget by £5bn, including controversial cuts to disability and sickness benefits.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Watch live: Angela Rayner faces Chris Philp in PMQs as Starmer returns from G7 summit
Watch live as Angela Rayner faces Chris Philp at PMQs on Wednesday (18 June), filling in for Sir Keir Starmer as he travels back from the G7 summit in Canada. As per convention, the opposition also nominates someone to stand in its leader's place. Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, will be replacing Kemi Badenoch in the dispatch box today. The deputy prime minister will face down questions from MPs in the Commons, with the grooming gangs national inquiry which was announced on Saturday (14 June) likely to be at the forefront. She could also be pressed on Labour's promise to 'smash the criminal boat gangs', as figures show that more than 1,700 migrants arrived in the UK in small boats last week. This week's PMQs comes ahead of an announcement that HS2 is expected to be delayed by at least a further two years, with transport secretary Heidi Alexander telling MPs that there is 'no reasonable way' to meet the 2033 target. The government is also publishing its Bill to reduce the welfare budget by £5billion, including controversial cuts to disability and sickness benefits.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Watch live: Angela Rayner faces Chris Philp in PMQs as Starmer returns from G7 summit
Watch live as Angela Rayner faces Chris Philp at PMQs on Wednesday (18 June), filling in for Sir Keir Starmer as he travels back from the G7 summit in Canada. As per convention, the opposition also nominates someone to stand in its leader's place. Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, will be replacing Kemi Badenoch in the dispatch box today. The deputy prime minister will face down questions from MPs in the Commons, with the grooming gangs national inquiry which was announced on Saturday (14 June) likely to be at the forefront. She could also be pressed on Labour 's promise to 'smash the criminal boat gangs', as figures show that more than 1,700 migrants arrived in the UK in small boats last week. This week's PMQs comes ahead of an announcement that HS2 is expected to be delayed by at least a further two years, with transport secretary Heidi Alexander telling MPs that there is 'no reasonable way' to meet the 2033 target. The government is also publishing its Bill to reduce the welfare budget by £5billion, including controversial cuts to disability and sickness benefits.
