‘She’s appointed herself the saviour of western civilisation’, British PM ridicules Kemi Badenoch
Accuses her of 'a desperate search for relevance'
The British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer came down hard on the leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch during the Prime Minister’s Questions at the House of Commons, accusing her of “a desperate search for relevance.”
The two locked horns over the government’s plans to boost defence spending.
Kemi Badenoch had pointed out disparities between the figures given by Starmer and the defence secretary John Healey.
Badenoch was making reference to Starmer’s claim yesterday that the defence budget would go up by “£13.4 billion year-on-year” from 2027.
Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
That tends to contradict what Healey said on TV this morning, that after inflation is taken into account, the real terms increase was actually only around £6bn.
Badenoch asked Starmer: “Over the weekend I suggested to the prime minister that he cut the aid budget and I am pleased that he accepted my advice. It’s the fastest response I’ve ever had from the prime minister.
“However, he announced £13.4 billion of additional defence spending yesterday. This morning, his defence secretary said the uplift is only £6bn. Which is the correct figure.”
Starmer’s response was brutal. He said: “I’m going to have to let the leader of the opposition down gently. She didn’t feature in my thinking at all. I was so busy over the weekend I didn’t even see her proposal.
“She’s appointed herself, I think, the saviour of Western civilisation. It’s a desperate search for relevance.”
He then addressed the issue she raised, saying, “If you take the numbers for this financial year, and then the numbers for financial year 27/28, that’s a £13.4bn increase – the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War.”
Flustered, Badenoch said Starmer was not “very clear” and drilled him further, asking why the defence secretary said £6bn and he said £13.4bn?
She noted that the Institute for Fiscal Studies said today that the government is playing silly games with numbers. She asked Starmer how he found the difference in numbers.
Starmer fired back: “We went through this two weeks ago, of going over the same question again and again.
“If you take the financial year this year and then you take the financial year for 2027/28, the difference between the two is £13.4bn. That’s the same answer. If you ask again, I’ll give the same answer again.”
Visibly angry now, Badenoch said: “Someone needs to tell the prime minister that being patronising is not a substitute for answering questions.”
Watch the exchange here
