Sketch / Keir Starmer’s PMQs performance was his most shameless yet |
One of the least successful operas in history received a revival at Westminster this week. ‘Die Frau ohne Schatten’ – the woman without a shadow – tells of betrayal, moral weakness and a mad emperor, all taking place around a group of southern islands, and was not a hit for Richard Strauss. Its revival at Westminster had a new title, however: ‘The Man with No Shame’.
Inevitably, given the news, the Chagos featured heavily at PMQs, as did the situation in Greenland. The betrayal of south sea, or rather Indian Ocean, islands, no longer seems to be the preserve of opera, or even operetta, but instead the active policy of the man squatting in Downing Street. ‘The future of Greenland should only be decided by the people of Greenland’, began Kemi Badenoch. Did the President agree or disagree? Cue – not for the first or last time – a round of initial stammering ejaculation from Starmer. ‘Well – erm – um’ he blathered. Eventually he found his feet and made a grubby little speech about security in the Arctic. To this tinpot attempt to sound like a sort of Churchill for polar bears, his MPs all nodded and cheered. This is a rare sight these days, but all the more sickening given their contemptible voting on the Chagos islands the previous night. Starmer isn’t the only one devoid of shame.
He grew more heated, doubtless imagining himself as one with other Great War leaders. Presumably he thinks Pitt and Churchill would admire his statesmanship. In fact it........