It’s difficult for an outgoing Prime Minister to mess up their valedictory PMQs: there is always more goodwill in the Chamber on those occasions than at any other time in the parliamentary calendar.
Keir Starmer managed a dignified and emotional departure today, and was helped along by an upbeat and relatively friendly Kemi Badenoch, who alternated between jokes and comments that came painfully close to being compliments.
Keir Starmer managed a dignified and emotional departure today
The Tory leader closed her questions by paying tribute to Starmer’s family, who were in the gallery, for the sacrifice that they had made for the choice that a politician makes to come into public life – and Starmer thanked her for her private kindness to him after incidents such as the attempted arson attack on his home, and after the death of his brother.
It wasn’t all cosy: at one point she joked that ‘I know the Prime Minister has come to enjoy our exchanges’ – though most people who’ve had to watch them wouldn’t be able to agree. She later warned him that ‘we have been where you are: changing prime minister is not a silver bullet’, adding (with a hint of relish) that the Labour party’s problems might be just beginning.
Starmer largely used each question to talk about what he wanted to state was his legacy, pointing to different people sitting in the public gallery whose campaigns and work had inspired him to change the law.
Badenoch did not challenge his assertions about what he had achieved: there was no point. Like everyone else, she was waiting for Andy Burnham, and will have to wait all summer for him too.
The session continued through jokes about Count Binface and Nigel Farage, and Ed Davey comparing the Prime Minister and Andy Burnham to the main characters of Toy Story. There were also repeated tributes to Ann Widdecombe, and her murder will have undoubtedly had an effect on the tone of today’s session as well.
At the end, one of Starmer’s closest supporters Carolyn Harris asked a question paying tribute to his ‘service and leadership’. This allowed the outgoing PM to give a small closing speech in which he acknowledged that ‘every prime minister knows when they take up the torch that the day will come when they have to pass it on. That day has come for me.’
He paid tribute to his staff, the Speaker and all colleagues across the house, before telling his family he loved them, and finally saying: ‘Goodbye.’
He walked out of the chamber to applause at that point.
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