Cabinet vying for Prime Minister’s job, says Badenoch in PMQs clash

Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet ministers are vying for his job, Kemi Badenoch has claimed, as the pair clashed over Labour’s record since the election.

The Conservative Party leader used one of her last despatch box appearances before Christmas to list Labour’s manifesto pledges and accused the Government of “making a mess”.
Mrs Badenoch used the famous slogan from her party’s 1970s dole queue poster, produced when Margaret Thatcher held her job, when she asked: “Isn’t it time that the Prime Minister admits that ‘Labour isn’t working’?”

Sir Keir defended the Government’s record, saying the Conservatives should “hang their heads in shame” after 14 years in power.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs Badenoch claimed Energy Secretary Ed Miliband wanted to “recycle himself”, by leading the Labour Party for a second time.

She asked: “Can the Prime Minister tell the House how much energy bills have fallen by since the election?”

The Labour Party promised last year to “set up Great British Energy” – a publicly-owned company – “to cut bills for good”.

Sir Keir replied: “I’m very pleased to say we’re taking £150 off energy bills. I can also tell her that that’s on top of the £150 we’ve taken off last year for the three million poorest families, now for six million poorest families.”

In response, Mrs Badenoch joked the Government could “power the National Grid on all of that hot air”, adding that bills had risen by £187 during his premiership.

She described Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson as “someone else who is making a mess”, after Labour promised voters it would recruit 6,500 more teachers.

The leader of the Opposition asked: “So, can the Prime Minister tell the House how many extra teachers are there since (Ms Phillipson) became Education Secretary?”

Sir Keir responded: “More than when they left office.

“And I’m very proud to say so, with an upward trajectory. They left our health service on its knees, they left our schools in a mess, they left our economy absolutely broken, they should be utterly ashamed of their record in service.”

Mrs Badenoch said he was “wrong” and told MPs that the Department for Education’s own statistics showed there were 400 fewer full-time equivalent teachers than in 2023 – a total 468,258.

“We’re all angry at the mess she’s making,” the Conservative leader added as Ms Phillipson shook her head.

Referring to a pledge to put in place 13,000 additional neighbourhood and community police officers, she asked Sir Keir: “Does he know anything about what’s going on in the Home Office?”

The Prime Minister replied: “Three thousand more by the end of March, we’re rising on police numbers.”

Referring to former prime minister Liz Truss’s new online broadcast, he continued: “She’s obviously spent the morning rehearsing for The Liz Truss Show, she’s probably going to be the guest star next week, both of them talking about how Liz Truss was 100% right.

“But what Liz Truss said was the Conservatives need to take responsibility for their 14 years of failure. That was Liz Truss, their former leader, so perhaps she’ll heed that, get up and say sorry.”

As she began her penultimate question, Mrs Badenoch referred to Government figures which showed there was a drop of 1,303 police officers between March 2024 and the same month this year.

Mrs Badenoch added: “I don’t know if the Home Secretary (Shabana Mahmood) wants his job, but I do read that she’s having conversations with Tony Blair because he’s already given up on the Prime Minister.

“Why don’t we talk about the Health Secretary (Wes Streeting)? Let’s see how he’s doing. We do know he definitely wants the job.

“He said he’d end the doctors’ strike, so can the Prime Minister tell the House how many appointments have been lost to strike action since last July?”

Sir Keir replied that the Conservatives had made an “absolute mess” of the NHS, saying Conservative MPs should “hang their heads in shame”.

He told MPs: “The Health Secretary said he’d do two million extra appointments. He hasn’t done two or three or four, he’s done five million extra appointments.”

And in their final exchange, Mrs Badenoch said: “Under Labour, everything is getting worse – jobs, bills, police numbers, teacher numbers – everything is getting worse.

“The Cabinet should be doing their own jobs. What are they doing? They’re trying to compete for the caretaker’s job.

“The only person who doesn’t want the Prime Minister’s job is the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves). She’s just trying to cling on to her own.

“Isn’t it time that the Prime Minister admits that ‘Labour isn’t working’?”

Sir Keir ended their exchange by saying Mrs Badenoch had “no credibility on the economy – she still believes that Liz Truss was 100% right” – and that she had “no credibility on foreign policy – she complains about trade deals she tried to get and we got”.

He said: “On issue after issue she’s clinging onto Reform, that’s not leadership, it’s weakness.

“It’s no wonder so many are leaving her party – they know there’s absolutely no reason to stay.”