1 - Go for goal
The Labour leader started off by congratulating the PM on his U-turn over free school meals after pressure from Marcus Rashford.
Starmer didn’t go in studs first though, preferring detailed questions on poverty rates and warnings from local councils, including Tory ones, that they are about to go bankrupt. All of which left some wondering if Starmer possesses the killer instinct.
2 - Schools, trading places
Just as in Scotland parents are getting increasingly concerned about plans to get children back to school, or rather the lack of plans.
Instead of taking responsibility Johnson summoned his rhetorical skills to turn the tables on Keir Starmer, pressing the Labour leader four times to say that it was “safe to go back to schools”.
The PM said the unions would not let the Labour leader speak. He quoted the Greek myths and said “great ox has stood upon his tongue” as he repeatedly pressed Starmer for an answer.
“This is turning into opposition questions,” complained Starmer, who tried to stick to his brief of asking about funding for local councils worried about impact of Covid-19.
Johnson found a chink in the armour even if blaming unions and Labour councils for kids going hungry and missing out on education was pretty shallow stuff.
3 - Blackford highlighted child poverty but didn’t score
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said Rashford “has shown more moral leadership in tackling poverty in a matter of days than this Tory government has in this past decade of cuts”.
He called on the PM to “immediately uplift” the child element of Universal Credit and child tax credit by £20 per week.
Johnson batted it away: “This is a Government that has done everything that we possibly can so far to help families in need to make sure that nobody is penalised for doing the right thing during the crisis because I know how difficult it has been.”
4 - Best wishes to Amy Callaghan MP
Just as the fates and the Commons would have it East Dunbartonshire MP Amy Callaghan was listed for a question on Wednesday (15 MPs are chosen by lottery for a question each week).
She is recovering from a brain hemorrhage and withdrew the question, allowing the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle the opportunity to wish her well.
5 - Beef on steroids is the new chlorinated chicken
Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael raised the issue of beef on steroids (the cow equivalent of chlorinated chicken) and how regulations allow any old meat to be labelled British beef if it is packaged here.
Fair play to Johnson, who managed to turn the answer into a rant against EU laws, with a sideswipe flourish against Scottish independence.
He said: “We will take advantage of the freedoms of that the British people have decided to take back to make sure that Scottish beef farmers have the protections they need.”
Verdict : Johnson, who is heading for a meeting of his disgruntled backbenchers on the Tory 1922 committee, will be pleased with this week’s performance. Backers of the new Labour leader will wonder if the courtroom drama style of Starmer has peaked too early.
