PMQs: here’s how Badmouther Boris got from his exams failure to accusing Keir Starmer of IRA sympathy
Johnson v Starmer: in the PMQs battle-of-words, Starmer came out the clear winner against a prime minister that didn’t seem to know what question he was being asked to answer – let alone how to do it.
Prime ministerial failure Boris Johnson showed us all he had no answers about the ‘A’ level results scandal when he wandered off in the middle of PMQs and started accusing Keir Starmer of sympathising with the IRA – by proxy.
The Labour leader had asked a reasonable question – when did Johnson know that there was a problem with the algorithm used by Ofqual and the Department for Education to produce results, as exams hadn’t taken place?
Johnson’s response was not only an insult to everybody whose results were tainted by the system that upgraded private school pupils and marked down those at state schools – it was a direct attack on Starmer, with no reason.
He was clearly off-balance; he did not know what to say about the exams fiasco – so he groped for an attack on the Labour leader that he (or more likely his team) had clearly prepared in advance.
See for yourself:
Boris Johnson – This is a leader who supported an IRA condoning politician
Keir Starmer – The PM made a comment about the IRA… I want him to take that comment back
Starmer – I asked him to do the decent thing, but doing the decent thing & this PM don't go together.#PMQs pic.twitter.com/4o8rSgIAaL
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) September 2, 2020
This is Johnson’s tactic, it seems:Â if he’s asked a tricky question, he’ll throw a dead cat on the table.
The barb about supporting the IRA had nothing to do with anything at all – particularly not Keir Starmer who, as he said, prosecuted many terrorists in his former role as a lawyer and as Director of Public Prosecutions.
It was simply a means of distracting attention away from the fact that his government failed ‘A’ level students across the country and he did not have an excuse.
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Get used to it Starmer it’s a sign of more to come, terrorist sympathiser, marxist , brittish traitor or even anti semitism all to come just wait till the right wing media follows it up. Now you know what Corbyn had to put up with, at least your top ministers won’t help stoke up the fire
Boris didn’t “fail” students with his politically-biased (not mutant, algorithms don’t mutate) algorithm, he got caught out fiddling the results. That’s fraud not failure.
Boris Johnson is a disgrace.
H.mm didn’t they use that against Corbyn but stammer the spammer doesn’t like showing up Boris to much
Maybe he’ll change his mind! He probably thought he’d have it easier but Johnson has made it perfectly clear that he’ll verbally assault anyone from Labour without a second thought.
Stammer was alright denying his IRA sympathies, with his self-congratulatory backslapping on his Ulster terrorist prosecutions…
But he’s not as keen to beat his chest about refusing to prosecute damien green or grant shapps, is he?
That’ll be because he’s undeniably a TORY sympathiser.
Using “guilt by association” against Starmer is one thing, but that rather assumes that “the best Prime Minister that Britain never had” ,Corbyn, actually expressed support for the IRA. In fact he never did.
He simply argued for a more sensible acceptance that British policy towards Ireland was likely to stimulate violence, AND he had the temerity to help out in negotiations with IRA prisoners in the lead-up to the final peace agreement.
As others above have said, being “Mr Clean Hands” will do Starmer no good unless he ,at least, disabuses the public of all the smears against Corbyn. If he doesn’t, (and I fear he won’t) he will carry on being smeared himself by association with his more successful predecessor
Your points about Mr Corbyn are quite correct – This Site ran a series of articles on this subject.
I agree with you about Starmer, too.