Rishi Sunak Slapped Down By Commons Speaker After Forgetting How PMQs Works
Rishi Sunak has been slapped down by Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle after trying to turn the tables on Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions.
Instead of answering the questions put to him by the Labour leader, he repeatedly asked Starmer to explain his policies.
That prompted a rebuke from Hoyle, who told him: “It’s not Opposition questions, it’s prime minister’s questions,” he said.
Starmer then chimed in: “With his time away he has slightly forgotten how this works.”
That was a reference to Sunak missing the last two PMQs, once to attend a service to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS and once to attend the Nato summit in Lithuania.
Since entering No.10 last October he has missed six of the 29 PMQs sessions which have taken place - the same number that Boris Johnson missed in three years.
Rishi Sunak asks Keir Starmer if he backs recommended pay rises for doctors, prompting Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to admonish the PM for asking — and not answering — questions at #PMQs
— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) July 19, 2023
"With his time away, he's... forgotten how this works" says Labour's leader https://t.co/9MzyY5aK06pic.twitter.com/fSA5JQBnmG
Hoyle also mocked the PM for his habit of leaving the Commons chamber as fast as he can.
“The prime minister likes to get away early,” the Speaker told rowdy Tory MPs.
“The more that you stop me getting on with the questions the more. I am going to keep him here.”
Starmer once again joined in. “I am sure the whole House is pleased that he has graced us with his presence today,” he said.
“But we don’t get any more answers when he’s here then when he’s not.”
The final PMQs of the term comes ahead of three crunch by-elections on Thursday.
Sunak is braced to lose all three and Westminster is awash with rumours he could reshuffle his cabinet this week in order to move the story on from any loss.