Kemi Badenoch has dismissed Keir Starmer as “irrelevant” on the global stage following his return to the UK from the NATO summit. The Tory leader clashed with the Prime Minister in the Commons on Thursday while he gave a statement on the G7 in Canada and NATO meeting in The Hague.
Mrs Badenoch 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.”
The top Tory 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.”
Sir Keir branded the leader of the opposition as “unserious” after she claimed his attendance at the foreign summits helped him avoid Prime Minister’s Questions.
He said it was “frankly embarrassing” to suggest he should not have been at NATO or the G7.
The Prime Minister added: “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.”
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.