The big issue at PMQs today was the motion calling for an end to hostilities in Gaza. In itself this is extraordinary, bordering on the outright barmy. The British mandate in Palestine expired in 1948 but many MPs seem to imagine that this troubled corner of the Middle East is part of their constituencies. The derangement is strongest on the left where people who disparage everything the Empire once represented seem to pine for its reinstatement as soon as they find a hotspot they want to rescue. Some commentators wondered if ‘Batman syndrome’ would strike Sir Keir Starmer but he refused to don the cape and tights today. Instead he opted for the lawyer’s wig.

Starmer’s goal was to duck out of talking about Gaza early and avoid turning it into a headline issue. What he really needs is to patch together a ceasefire between the Blairite and Corbynite wings of his party. At the despatch box he ran down the clock and stuffed his questions with forgettable verbiage about Kemi Badenoch’s soon-to-be-forgotten tiff with a sacked civil servant. He pretended to get worked up about the Post Office compensation affair and he raised statements made in the house referring to letters exchanged ages ago about minor details of policy. No one will remember these footnotes in a few weeks’ time. Sir Keir played it safe. He said nothing about anything.

Then it was the SNP’s turn. Their leader in Westminster, Stephen Flynn, has the violent air of a frustrated slaughterman whose shift has ended early. It’s hard to imagine how he ever managed to win an election that involves speaking to voters in their porches. No sane house-holder would answer the door to a man who looks as if he sells slippers made out of puppies he personally drowned.

QOSHE - Parliament’s Gaza vote won’t help anyone - Lloyd Evans
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Parliament’s Gaza vote won’t help anyone

11 1
21.02.2024

The big issue at PMQs today was the motion calling for an end to hostilities in Gaza. In itself this is extraordinary, bordering on the outright barmy. The British mandate in Palestine expired in 1948 but many MPs seem to imagine that this troubled corner of the Middle East is part of their constituencies. The derangement is strongest on the left where people who disparage everything the Empire once represented seem to pine for its........

© The Spectator


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