Johnson can’t go on being as dire at PMQs as he was yesterday
Time to bet that he won’t make it as PM until the next general election?
I first began reporting professionally as a journalist on PMQs in 1972 when I was part of the small team that produced the “Today in Parliament” programme for BBC Radio 4. Three years later I was one of the editors that handled the parliamentary broadcasting experiment that was the forerunner of the proceedings of the House being broadcast on radio and then later television.
These credentials are set out so I can assert that yesterday’s PMQs performance by Boris Johnson was the worst by any PM in half a century.
This was the first PMQs since the summer recess and has drawn fairly widespread criticism of Johnson from the commentariat. For me the big issue was that the PM got a reprimand from the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle three times.
The Standard noted that “In their first test after the summer holidays, it was clear that Starmer had been swotting up on his PMQs homework while Johnson hoped to wing it.” He simply wasn’t prepared for the obvious issue that came up. This was the reaction of Piers Morgan:
And for an excellent blow by blow account check out this Tweet from the Spectator’s Lloyd Evans.
I am now betting that Johnson will not lead the Tories into the next general election as PM.