• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Starmer just wasted the last PMQs before summer recess

Steve Topple by Steve Topple
22 July 2020
in Trending, UK
Reading Time: 3 mins read
170 2
A A
9
Home Trending
320
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

In a heated yet underwhelming Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on 22 July, Keir Starmer led on the so-called ‘Russia report’. But instead of landing a decisive blow on Boris Johnson, the Labour leader missed an opportunity to nail the PM. Because Starmer failed to mention Russian Tory donors at the centre of the growing storm.

Russia report: money, money, money

As The Canary‘s Tom Coburg has previously reported, the long delayed report by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of Parliament on alleged Russian interference in UK politics has now been published. It covers cyber attacks, disinformation, and the role of Russian ‘ex-pats’.

But what the published parts of the ISC report failed to mention were the Russian and Putin-linked oligarchs who made donations to the Conservative Party. Coburg’s research found that four Russia-linked donors gave:

a whopping £2,578,909.38 (or £2,768.909.38 if including what appear to be additional payments by Lubov Chernukhin). Nearly all the donations went to the Conservative Party or individual Tory MPs.

You can read Coburg’s full analysis here.

You’d think, given that these donations could put the Conservative Party at the centre of the Russia report allegations, Starmer would at least have used one question to table the matter. But instead, he didn’t even bring it up.

Starmer: a limp biscuit

The Labour leader’s attacks on Johnson centred around security issues. He started by asking the PM why he “sat on” the report “for so long”. Johnson wriggled out of the question, saying:

Actually when I was foreign secretary… we’ve been taking the strongest possible action against Russian wrongdoing, orchestrating… the expulsion… of 153 Russian diplomats around the world, while the right honourable gentleman opposite sat on his hands and said nothing while the Labour Party parroted the line of the Kremlin…

Starmer denied sitting on his hands, asking Johnson to withdraw his statement. He then went on to grill the PM on why the Conservatives, having been in power for ten years, had taken their “eye off the ball” – to the extent that the party, and government, “wasn’t even on the pitch”. Johnson blustered the question away – beginning a tit-for-tat rant which Starmer continued. The Labour leader then did his usual hand-wringing, saying the Labour Party would “support” new legislation in light of the Russia report (seemingly regardless of what that legislation will be). But he also asked why the Conservatives had taken so long to legislate in the first place.

What’s all the fuss about?

This backwards and forwards continued until, ultimately, Starmer finished, having failed to land any blows on Johnson. The limp line of questioning and focusing on security concerns allowed Johnson to deflect, detract and dismiss every point. Meanwhile, Russian oligarch money has flowed into Tory coffers. Yet Starmer will have left some of the public wondering what the fuss about the Russia report actually is.

Featured image via YouTube – ITV News

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

TB vaccine trials for cows get go-ahead in a welcome strategy shift from killing badgers

Next Post

Corbyn says Labour’s choice to pay damages to ex-staffers was ‘a political decision, not a legal one’

Next Post

Corbyn says Labour's choice to pay damages to ex-staffers was 'a political decision, not a legal one'

tory

Types of donor

PM’s visit to Scotland highlights ‘key argument’ for independence, Sturgeon says

PM’s visit to Scotland highlights ‘key argument’ for independence, Sturgeon says

Committee slams ‘astonishing’ failure to plan financially for pandemic

Brandon Lewis tries to defend Russia-linked Tory donations

Brandon Lewis tries to defend Russia-linked Tory donations

Please login to join discussion
Horoscope today: your 24-hour briefing for life, love, and more
Horoscopes

Horoscope today: your 24-hour briefing for life, love, and more

by Steve Topple
21 May 2025
DWP open source banking
Analysis

The DWP is quietly trying to get a private company to connect it to disabled people’s bank accounts

by Steve Topple
20 May 2025
gideon's chariots Gaza
Analysis

Gideon’s Chariots: leaked plan shows Israel intentionally pushing Gaza to famine and forced displacement

by Alaa Shamali
20 May 2025
Gideon's Chariots Gaza
Analysis

“عربات جدعون.. مخطط إسرائيلي يقود غزة نحو مجاعة مُمنهجة وتهجير قسري

by Alaa Shamali
20 May 2025
Our friends at Pauzeradio have got the perfect Reggae clothing line for this summer
Lifestyle

Our friends at Pauzeradio have got the perfect Reggae clothing line for this summer

by Steve Topple
20 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

Horoscope today: your 24-hour briefing for life, love, and more
Horoscopes
Steve Topple

Horoscope today: your 24-hour briefing for life, love, and more

DWP open source banking
Analysis
Steve Topple

The DWP is quietly trying to get a private company to connect it to disabled people’s bank accounts

gideon's chariots Gaza
Analysis
Alaa Shamali

Gideon’s Chariots: leaked plan shows Israel intentionally pushing Gaza to famine and forced displacement

Gideon's Chariots Gaza
Analysis
Alaa Shamali

“عربات جدعون.. مخطط إسرائيلي يقود غزة نحو مجاعة مُمنهجة وتهجير قسري

ADVERTISEMENT
Analysis
Nathan Spears

Vote for the Press Photograph of the Year 2024

Image by Burkard Meyendriesch from Pixabay
Feature
Nathan Spears

Why Santiago Ways is the Leading Choice for Walking the Camino de Santiago

Environment
Nathan Spears

EU elections point to growing public desire for new policymaking approach in Brussels