Johnson is royally put in his place at PMQs
Another week, and another Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) has left some of us feeling, well – underwhelmed. But much like the previous week’s edition, the spark came from somewhere other than the Tory and Labour benches.
This week, it was down to speaker Lindsay Hoyle to put Boris Johnson in his place.
PMQs: Hoyle starts as he means to go on
It didn’t start well for Johnson. Lancs Live reported that Hoyle laid into the government over the controversial coronavirus (Covid-19) laws that MPs are fighting over. MPs want to be able to debate changes to the legislation, but the government doesn’t want to let them. Hoyle scolded the government. He said it had shown a “total disregard” for parliament. Hoyle then laid right into the Tories, saying:
All too often, important statutory instruments [changes to laws] have been published a matter of hours before they come into force and some explanations as to why important measures have come into effect before they can be laid before this House has been unconvincing and shows a total disregard for the House.
He chose not to allow any of the proposed amendments to be debated. This was because Hoyle thought that the set 90 minutes was not long enough. But this was just the beginning of his mauling of Johnson.
Wishy-washy
Keir Starmer then entered the fray; more’s the pity. Because as per previous weeks, his performance was lacklustre and not really worthy of too many column inches. Starmer focused on the chaotic lockdown restrictions that are in place across the UK. There was, however, one nugget from Starmer. He brought up Johnson’s ‘mis-speaking‘ over lockdown rules in the North East. Starmer asked:
If the prime minister doesn’t understand the rules… how does… [he] expect the rest of the country to understand and follow the rules?
Read on...
It was all a bit mild-mannered, mind, whereas Johnson let rip in response. He said Starmer was trying to “undermine” the government’s plan. But this didn’t really land as a blow on Starmer, and the two men continued their usual backwards and forwards. The PM invoked his rather creepy ‘arms around the UK’ catchphrase again. If that doesn’t make your skin crawl, what will?
So, it was up to Hoyle to deliver some more ‘fire in the parliamentary booth’.
Fire in the (parliamentary) booth
Johnson chose to turn PMQs into ‘OLQ’s’ – asking opposition leader Starmer if he supported lockdown restrictions or not. This was too much for Hoyle. He intervened after Starmer responded, saying:
Look, it’s very important. But just to remind everybody: it is Prime Minister’s Questions, not opposition questions.
Calm but deadly from Hoyle. Which is more than can be said for Johnson and Starmer. One blustered and guffawed his way through PMQs. The other swerved from support to opposition without landing a blow. And you can probably guess which one was which.
Featured image via the Telegraph – YouTube
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Captain of Capitulation Keir Starmer is a Tory Trojan horse leading the labour Party into a zero opposition no-mans-land: we need credible opposition so he must go. I follow PMQs every week and what a total let down that is. His deputy did a far better job. Starmer’s pathetic, winey, “who’s been a naughty boy then…” style of questioning is followed by Johnson peppering Starmer with “does he support me or not…” taunting as he cravenly seeks effusive praise for his latest failure. This is followed by yet another round of thoroughly nauseating party political PR lies and shallow promises from Johnson.
Then one Tory MP after another will line up to put forward a obvious non-question beginning with the words, “does the Prime Minister agree with me,” that essentially tout a pledge of future investment. These are thinly disguised invitations for Johnson to indulge in gratuitous self-congratulation; but such vacuous gestures are more accurately described as ‘stroking,’ not inquiries about serious issues. With the over-inflated ego of a selfish narcissistic PM, Johnson revels in this Tory praise; he then offers yet more sickening PR spin or worse still one of his Tory ‘death hugs!’
After what is farcically referred to as Prime Ministers Questions the compliant BBC wade in with their worthless evaluation that never challenges the PMs repeated lies and false promises, reinforcing the fake ‘levelling up’ claim that is not evidenced by Tory policy or actions. The Tories are still moving money from the working poor ‘up’ into the hands of the wealthy elite: tell it like it is they are ‘Decimating Down!’ The right wing rags reinforce the lies told in the chamber and praise Starmer as “forensic” to placate his ego and keep him on side as a nondescript enabler of the Tory Government.
PMQs is now a weekly blatant Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Tory Party unfairly endorsed by the BBC and the rest of the Mainstream media. The UK is well on the road to full Dictatorship that will be facilitated by manipulation of Covid restrictions and the shock of crash-out Brexit. The British public need wake up and smell the coffee: we must urgently fight back to restore our democracy before it is too late to: Get the Tories Out! Following the Covert 2019 Rigged Election our democracy is in very grave danger. Please visit the Discussion Forum “Elections Aftermath” on Craig Murray’s blog and sign this Petition: DO NOT MOVE ON! https://tinyurl.com/w4u9dwm
It is an interesting sequence of events that re seemingly unrelated. However, there must be many people in those so-called ‘red wall’ constituencies that, given the chance, would love to discuss that weird election result. If only they weren’t locked down. As mentioned previously the so-called ‘Exit Poll’ appears to have formulated an extremely accurate result after questioning only 40 voters per constituency! Another curious ‘poll’ that manifested prior to 12/12/19 was one from Wrexham that suggested the population of that town thought it was unfair to tax billionaires at a higher rate because ‘they had worked hard for their money’. I wonder if they questioned more than 40 people in Wrexham?
We are quickly turning our so called democratic elections into American style 2 party affairs where the one with the biggest war chest from their corporate donators gets to win but it doesn’t matter who does actually win they just do exactly the same as every other since Roosevelt, WAR equals cash and oil so lets make weapons and sell them around the world it makes perfect sense.
Starmer and his crew wouldn’t know a socialist principle if it dressed up as Fidel Castro and blew cigar smoke in their eyes !! Red Tory blue Tory they are both the same just different coloured rosettes
It’s time for a new left wing party that has a different agenda and social justice at its heart.