Keir Starmer has challenged Rishi Sunak to hold an immediate general election and accused the prime minister of being more focused on internal Conservative wrangling over honours than on the economy and asylum. In a perhaps predictable line of attack at prime minister’s questions, after days of negative headlines about peerages and other honours for supporters of Boris Johnson, Starmer said Sunak was “too weak” to stand up to the former prime minister. The Labour leader highlighted the way that Johnson’s wider honours list included not just political supporters, but staff members who, Starmer said, had played their part in helping cover up the truth about lockdown-breaking Downing Street parties. “The Tory economic crash means that millions of mortgage holders will pay thousands of pounds more next year, and the blame lies squarely at the door of a government more focused on the internal wars of the Tory party than the needs of the country,” Starmer said, seeking to tie the infighting to the cost of living crisis.
“Does he not think that those responsible should hang their heads in shame?” Sunak said he had simply “followed due process and convention” in agreeing to a departing prime minister’s honours list, and accused Starmer of having nominated unsuitable people for peerages. Starmer’s opening question referenced the continuing dispute between Johnson and Sunak over whether the prime minister reneged on an agreement to give peerages to two Johnson-supporting MPs – Nigel Adams and Nadine Dorries – who either quit the Commons with him or have said they will. “All across the country, people are worried about their bills, the price of the weekly shop and the spiralling mortgage rates,” Starmer asked. “So why has the Tory party spent this last week arguing over which of them gets a peerage?” Sunak said he had followed “a long-established convention of previous prime ministers having the ability to submit honours”, addng: “I followed the process to the letter.” Starmer replied: “The truth is, for all his tough talk after the event, the prime minister did sign off the honours list. And that means that those who threw a Downing Street party the night before the late queen sat alone at her husband’s funeral will now receive awards from the king. If he’s so tough, why didn’t he block it?” In response, Sunak stressed the precedent for such honours, saying Conservative prime ministers had agreed peerages for Shami Chakrabarti, who investigated antisemitism in Labour on behalf of Jeremy Corbyn, and Tom Watson, the party’s former deputy leader, who has apologised for highlighting claims of historical abuse levelled by the serial fantasist Carl Beech while an MP. The prime minister was briefly rebuked by the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, for saying Watson had “spread vicious conspiracy theories”, being told he should not speak about a fellow parliamentarian in such a way. Going on the attack again, Starmer said: “Honours should be for public service, not Tory cronies. He was too weak to block Johnson’s list. And that also means that those who spent their time helping cover up Johnson’s law-breaking are rewarded by becoming lawmakers for the rest of their lives.” Starmer asked Sunak if he would block the resignation honours list from Liz Truss, which will reportedly include peerages for allies including Mark Littlewood, the head of the Institute of Economic Affairs thinktank, which backed her disastrous budget. Sunak dodged the question. Responding to Starmer, the prime minister attacked Labour’s spending plans and policy of barring new North Sea oil and gas projects. Starmer ended: “If he spent as much time focused on the economy, the NHS and the asylum system as he does haggling with his predecessors about who gets honours, the country would be in a far better state. “Once again, he has lost control and once again, it is working people paying a price. If he disagrees with that, why not put it to the test, end the boasting, the excuses, the Tory chaos, see if he can finally find somebody, anybody anywhere to vote for him, and call a general election now?”