Jutting out his Buzz Lightyear jaw, Keir Starmer got louder cheers from the Tories than his own side_Nhy
Eerie echoes of an earlier invasion, an earlier Labour PM. Twenty-two years ago some of us watched Tony Blair being cheered more by the Tories than by his own MPs as he lured us to war in Iraq.
Blair’s aides luxuriated in their parliamentary opponents’ support and talked of ‘a British prime minister standing tall in the world’.
They even mocked the then Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith, for calling the prime minister ‘sir’ at No 10 meetings.
One much-used phrase at that time was of the White House leading ‘a coalition of the willing’. The result of that war? Sub-optimal.
Two decades on: same chamber, same cracked green-leather benches, same despatch boxes, although Sir Keir Starmer uses a small wooden platform to raise his script.
If its language was familiar that is because it was identical. ‘We must proceed with strength,’ averred Sir Keir, jutting his Buzz Lightyear jaw, ‘and that does now require, urgently, a coalition of the willing.’
His national security adviser is Jonathan Powell, who was Blair’s chief of staff. Maybe he suggested this lifeless phrase to the new PM.
That they have readmitted such a man to the cockpit of power is astonishing.
Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) gave the Commons an update on Ukraine and his remarks received more support vocally from the Conservatives than from his own backbenchers
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair (pictured) was cheered more by the Tories than by his own MPs as he lured us to war in Iraq
Sir Keir’s jackets are suddenly inflated by a greater self-belief. Are his shirts crisper, his ties more silken? It seems so.
He was giving the Commons an update on Ukraine and his remarks received more support vocally from the Conservatives than from his own backbenchers.
‘Hear hear!’ harrumphed blue-tuskers such as Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough), who recalled that in 1914 the Kaiser sneered about the weakness of the British Army.
And look what happened to the Boche, egad. Sir Edward, who is at least 130, remembers Wilhelm II well.
Kemi Badenoch, while seeking further particulars on Sir Keir’s proposal for ‘boots on the ground and planes in the air’, stated that President Zelensky was ‘a hero’ (reverberating agreement from all sides).
To her question ‘what can be done to heal his rift with Washington?’ there was no real suggestion.
In reply to a question from Andrew Murrison (Con, SW Wilts), Sir Keir all but admitted that there could be no British boots on the ground of Ukraine unless Mr Trump promised to whack Putin if he broke any peace agreement.
The one memorable phrase in Sir Keir’s speech was about Putin’s untrustworthiness – ‘the calibre of his word’.
Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) admitted that there could be no British boots on the ground of Ukraine unless Mr Trump promised to whack Putin if he broke any peace agreement
There was a succession of Labour backbenchers eager to thank the old pudding for ‘his leadership’
Though support for Sir Keir may not have been quite so spontaneous on the Labour side there was still a succession of Labour backbenchers eager to thank the old pudding for ‘his leadership’.
Remarkably Dame Emily Thornberry was in attendance.
Dame Emily chairs the Commons foreign affairs select committee and has been away for much of the past month on essential jaunts (‘fact-finding trips’, please).
She cooed that Sir Keir’s leadership had been ‘pitch-perfect’ and then went on to voice a quibble about foreign aid cuts.
‘Pitch-perfect’ was also the expression shrieked forth by young Oliver Ryan from Burnley.
He’s that impressionable greaser who has been suspended from Labour for insulting voters and party workers in social-media posts.
He praised Sir Keir ‘in the strongest possible terms’ and jabbered that he was now ‘the leader of the free world’.
After this paean Mr Ryan sat with his tongue outside his mouth. Actually panting.
Kemi Badenoch (pictured) stated that President Zelensky was ‘a hero’ (reverberating agreement from all sides)
Dame Emily Thornberry cooed that Sir Keir’s (pictured) leadership had been ‘pitch-perfect’ and then went on to voice a quibble about foreign aid cuts
The government chief whip permitted himself the smallest of burps. A cobra digesting a plump lizard.
Other suck-ups such as Mark Seward (Lab, Leeds SW) were furious to be out-suctioned by Ryan.
China was not mentioned until after more than 90 minutes. Jeremy Corbyn (Ind, Islington N) unjustly had to wait almost until the end until he could voice doubts.
Nigel Farage made a wisecrack about how maybe Sir Keir now understood the advantages of Brexit.
And on a day when others united, Scottish Labour MPs hurled jibes at the SNP.
Zelensky and Trump, maybe even Zelensky and Putin, will be reconciled before there is peace between Scottish Labour and the Scots Nats.
