Donning his wig: Starmer, for perhaps the first time this century, said Badenoch was “right” and confirmed he disagreed with the decision. But he added: “She hasn’t quite done her homework because the decision in question was taken under the last government.” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is, he said, looking at closing the “legal loophole” that’s allowed this to happen. However, the PM remained super-vague on whether the government will actively appeal the court’s ruling.
Battle over borders: “We cannot be in a situation where we allow enormous numbers of people to exploit our laws in this way,” Badenoch thundered. The PM hit back with a familiar trope — claiming the Tories “lost control of immigration.” Not much was learned.
Lawyering up: Attorney General Richard Hermer has become the Tories’ bête noire of late, and Badenoch wasn’t going to turn down a chance to rip into him. “We need to make sure we appoint people who believe in our country and everything we stand for,” she said, arguing that it is unclear if Hermer — a long-standing human rights lawyer who is also taking shots from some in Labour — does. She then leapt on a Daily Mail story about Britain’s incoming borders inspector, who told MPs he is “resident in Finland” and a fan of working from home.
But but but: Starmer had a pretty clear comeback. “The individual in question was appointed in 2019 by the last government for a senior position,” he said. “He did work for five years from Finland. We’ve changed that, and he’s now going to be working for the United Kingdom full time.” That is in itself a shift from this morning’s line from ministers that it doesn’t really matter where the watchdog’s based — but was a pretty clear comeback to Badenoch.
Elephant in the room: Ed Davey continued his bid to be Donald Trump’s British public enemy number one by addressing the U.S. president’s bombshell 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum. The Lib Dem leader asked if the government would consider retaliatory tariffs on electric cars (think Elon Musk’s beloved Tesla). Starmer rolled out lines on the special relationship (one for the bingo card) but said the government will always put “our natural interests” first. One to watch?
Helpful backbench interventions of the week: Labour MP for Bradford East’s Imran Hussain asked about the government’s Employment Rights Bill and attacked opposition parties for voting against it. Here’s a jaw-dropper: the PM agreed that opposing it is bad and said Badenoch should support day-one protection against firings at work given “where she’s going.” Ouch.
Totally unscientific scores on the doors: Badenoch 5/10. Starmer 7/10. Badenoch tried two punchy attacks on a hot-button issue that motivates voters. But on both, there were clear comebacks from the PM who was able to muddy the waters by referring to decisions taken by the last government. Badenoch seemed to struggle with the spontaneity PMQs requires — giving the PM a win.