Sir Keir Starmer has criticised Kemi Badenoch as “unserious” after she claimed his attendance at the G7 and Nato summits helped him avoid Prime Minister’s Questions.
The Prime Minister slapped down Mrs Badenoch’s dismissal of him as “irrelevant” on the global stage as she launched a barbed attack on Sir Keir while he gave a statement on the two international events to the Commons.
Her tone was rebuked by one of her own backbenchers, who admitted he could have the whip withdrawn for his criticism, though the Tory leader later said she did not plan to take action over it.
Mrs Badenoch had said: “He has evaded Prime Minister’s Questions for two weeks, only to come here to tell us what we already heard on the news. This is a weak statement from a weak Prime Minister which can be characterised in two words; ‘noises off’.”
She added: “We used to be a strategic player on the global stage, advancing Britain’s interests with confidence, and now we are on the sidelines.”
She later said: “Over the last few weeks, historic events unfolded in the Middle East, and at every stage Britain has been out of step with the US and out of the loop with Israel.”
“The Prime Minister may have finally returned to this House after a fortnight away, but in truth he is all at sea. Irrelevant on the world stage, impotent in the face of rising illegal immigration, and now with 126 of his own MPs all openly undermining his authority, his Government is incapable of making even the smallest changes to bring down the cost of our ever-expanding welfare bill,” she went on to say.
In response, Sir Keir said: “There has never been a more important time to work with our allies, and to be absolutely serious in our response. That response was unserious.
“To suggest that at a time like this that the Prime Minister attending a G7 summit and the Nato summit is avoiding PMQs is unserious.
“What happened at Nato yesterday was historic. It was very important at a time like this that Nato showed unity and strength with a commitment to the future, not just to the past. That took a huge amount of work with our allies over the last few days and weeks.
“We have been centrally involved in that, crafting the final outcome, and we were recognised as having done so. I am proud that we helped put that summit into the right place, and the world emerged safer as a result.”
He added: “For the leader of the Opposition to belittle it just shows how irrelevant she and the party opposite have become. They used to be serious about these issues, they used to be capable of cross-party consensus, and all of that is slipping away.”
Conservative MP for the Wrekin Mark Pritchard said: “Can I agree with the Prime Minister that as far as possible in this place, it would be better to keep partisan politics out of national security issues?
“And who knows, I may get withdrawn for saying that, but so be it, there are things that go beyond party politics.”
Sir Keir had earlier said it was “frankly embarrassing to suggest I shouldn’t have been at Nato or the G7”, adding: “And I think her backbenchers recognise it.”
Mrs Badenoch was later asked if she would remove the whip during an event at the British Chambers of Commerce conference.
She said: “No, I love answering questions. The Prime Minister does not.”
There is “no reason” for Prime Minister’s Questions to always be on a Wednesday, she said.
She added: “If I have an MP criticising me for criticising the Prime Minister, then we need to ask what is the point of being in Opposition if you cannot point out where the Government is going wrong? That is my job.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey also criticised Mrs Badenoch, saying: “It is astonishing, and I share his surprise, that it’s now Conservative policy not to attend the G7 and Nato.”
In his statement, the Prime Minister said the ceasefire between Iran and Israel had created an opportunity for peace, and said the pause in missile strikes between the two countries could also allow for a ceasefire in Gaza.
He said: “There is now a window for peace. We urge Iran and Israel to honour the ceasefire and seize this opportunity to stabilise the region. That is our priority, to get Iran back around the negotiating table with the US.”
He added: “Our national security strategy is clear, in this … era of radical uncertainty, faced with growing conflicts, state threats, illegal migration, organised crime and terrorism, the only way to respond to these issues is by being strong both at home and on the world stage, by pursuing a foreign policy that answers directly to the concerns of working people, and that is the approach I took to Nato and to the G7.”
MPs heard the Government plans to spend 4.1% of GDP on defence by 2027, rising to 5% by 2035. Sir Keir said it would lead to a realignment of national security plans and economic policies in a way not seen since the Second World War.
However Mrs Badenoch asked how the Government was going to meet its spending targets. She said: “The Government’s aspiration to get spending on national security to 5% is just hope. The reality is Labour does not have a plan to get to 3%, it is all smoke and mirrors.”
Mrs Badenoch continued: “It is one thing to talk about spending money on planes and infrastructure, making announcements about reviews, but it is another to be clear where the money comes from and how it will be spent efficiently to secure the defence of our nation.”
Sir Keir replied: “We are the party that has increased defence spend to the highest level since the Cold War, 2.5%, they talked about it. We did it.”
He added that in a recent interview Mrs Badenoch had said the Conservative government had examined how to raise defence spending, but “couldn’t make the numbers work”.
