Keir Starmer is not my idea of a hugely effective Leader of the Opposition…
However, I think his response to Mr Johnson’s ‘apology’ this afternoon is probably his most powerful speech in the Commons to date.
This is what he said:
“What a joke. Even now as the latest
mealy-mouthed apology stumbles out of one side of his mouth, a new set of
deflections and distortions pour from the other.
But the damage is already done.
The public have made up their mind.
They don’t believe a word the Prime
Minister says.
They know what he is.
As ever with this Prime Minister those
close to him find themselves ruined and the institutions he vows to protect
damaged.
Good ministers forced to walk away from
public service.
The Chancellor’s career up in flames.
And the Leader of the Scottish
Conservatives rendered pathetic.
For all those unfamiliar with this
Prime Minister’s career.
This isn’t some fixable glitch in the
system.
It’s the whole point.
It’s what he does.
It’s who he is.
He knows he’s dishonest and incapable
of changing.
So he drags everybody else down with
him.
The more people debase themselves,
parroting his absurd defences, the more the public will believe all politicians
are the same.
All as bad as each other.
And that suits this Prime Minister just
fine.
Some members opposite seem oblivious to
the Prime Minister’s game.
Some know what he’s up to but are too
weak to act.
But others are gleefully playing the
part the Prime Minister cast for them.
A minister on the radio this morning
saying it’s the same as a speeding ticket.
No it’s not.
No one has ever broken down in tears
because they couldn’t drive faster than 20mph outside a school.
Don’t insult the public with this
nonsense.
But Mr Speaker, as it happens the last
Minister who got a speeding ticket and then lied about it ended up in prison
and I know because I prosecuted him.
And last week we were treated to a
grotesque spectacle.
One of the Prime Minister’s loyal
supporters accusing teachers and nurses of drinking in the staff room through
lockdown.
Members opposite can associate
themselves with that if they want.
But those of us who take pride in our
NHS workers, our teachers and every other key worker who got us through those
dark days will never forget their contempt.
Plenty didn’t agree with every rule the
Prime Minister wrote.
But they followed them nonetheless
because in this country we respect others, we put the greater good above narrow
self-interest and we understand that the rules apply to all of us.
This morning, I spoke to John Robinson,
a constituent for the Member for Lichfield, I want to tell his story.
When his wife died of Covid, John and
his family obeyed the Prime Minister’s rules.
He didn’t see her in hospital, he
didn’t hold her hand as she died.
Their daughters and grandchildren drove
100 miles up the motorway, clutching a letter from the funeral director in case
they were questioned by the police.
They didn’t have a service in the
church, John’s son-in-law stayed away because he would have been the forbidden
seventh mourner.
Doesn’t the Prime Minister realise that
John would have given the world to hold his dying wife’s hand, even if it was
just for nine minutes?
But he didn’t.
Because he followed the Prime
Minister’s rules.
Rules that we now know the Prime
Minister blithely, repeatedly and deliberately ignored.
After months of insulting excuses,
today’s half-hearted apology will never be enough for John Robinson.
If the Prime Minister had any respect
for John and the millions like him who sacrificed everything to follow the
rules he’d resign.
But he won’t.
Because he doesn’t respect John.
He doesn’t respect the sacrifice of the
British public.
He is a man without shame.
Looking past the Member for Lichfield
and the nodding dogs in the cabinet.
There are many decent, honourable
members on the benches opposite.
Who do respect John Robinson.
Who do respect the British public.
They know the damage the Prime Minister
is doing.
They know things can’t go on as they
are.
And they know it is their
responsibility to bring an end to this shameful chapter.
Today I urge them once again.
Don’t follow in the slipstream of an
out of touch, out of control Prime Minister.
Put their conscience first, put their
country first, put John Robinson first and remove the Prime Minister from
office.
Bring decency, honesty and integrity
back into our politics.
And stop the denigration of everything
that this country stands for”.
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