■ BORIS CLASHES WITH THE SPEAKER IN COMMONS
THE prime minister was threatened with having his audio cut off for a second time in a week – by the Commons speaker.
Boris Johnson had tried to ask Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer if he supported Jeremy Corbyn’s membership of the party as its anti-Semitism row rages on.
But speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told him: ‘It actually is prime minister’s questions, not leader of the opposition questions.’
Mr Johnson – who is self-isolating – protested over his video link: ‘It’s a reasonable question.’
But Sir Lindsay declared: ‘I think I’ll make that decision, prime minister.’
Then he quipped: ‘ Thankfully, we’ve got the sound... we don’t want to lose it.’
It was a reference to the moment the prime minister’s video feed was muted during Monday’s coronavirus update.
Moments later, as Sir Keir accused the PM of ‘running away’ from the problems in his government, Mr Johnson sarcastically mouthed ‘Ooh yeah’ at the camera five times.
The put downs came as the two leaders clashed angrily over standards.
Sir Keir criticised Mr Johnson’s decision not to fire Priti Patel despite a report which found she shouted and swore at her staff. He said: ‘What message does the prime minister think it sends that the independent adviser on standards has resigned but the home secretary is still in post?’
Mr Johnson told MPs: ‘Frankly, I make no apology for standing by a home secretary who is getting on with delivering the people’s priorities.’
Sir Keir highlighted Mr Johnson’s foreword to the ministerial code last year, in which he insisted there must be no bullying, no harassment, no leaking, no misuse of taxpayer money and no actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
Listing leaks of Covid restrictions and criticism of PPE contracts, he claimed each had been broken. ‘I think it’s a clean sweep,’ he said. ‘Bullying, harassment, leaking, wasting public money and obvious conflicts of interest. ‘It’s the same old story – one rule for the British public, another for the prime minister and his friends.
‘Just look at the contrast between his attitude to spraying public money on contracts that don’t deliver, and his attitude to pay rises for key workers who kept the country going in this pandemic. ‘If you’ve got a hotline to ministers, you get a blank cheque but, if you’re on the front line tackling Covid, you’re picking up the bill.’
Mr Johnson accused Sir Keir of ‘concentrating on trivia’, displaying a ‘deep underlying Labour hatred of the private sector’ and failing to recognise the efforts made to secure vital equipment in difficult circumstances. He said: ‘It’s this party and this government that has given key workers, public sector workers, above-inflation pay rises this year – for police, for the Army, for nurses who are now getting 12.6 per cent more than three years ago.
‘And it’s this government that will continue increasing the living wage.’