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22 January 2025

PMQs review: Starmer confronts some awkward realities

Badenoch highlighted the Conservative record on education and called Labour's legislation “an act of vandalism”.

By Rachel Cunliffe

A change of tack from Kemi Badenoch at PMQs this week. Those expecting the opposition leader to lean in to the two main topics dominating Westminster – the dawn of Trump 2.0, and extremism prevention (after Axel Rudakubana pled guilty to murdering three girls in Southport) – will be disappointed.

Two weeks ago, Badenoch focused hard on the grim subject of grooming gangs and the state failures that contributed to the decades-long scandal. You might have expected a similar performance today, especially as she tweeted earlier in the week that there were “important questions the authorities will need to answer” and called for “a complete account of who in government knew what and when”. Instead, Badenoch used all six of her questions for a takedown of the government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, in committee stage this week.

We’ve seen this tactic used by past opposition leaders in PMQs before. The idea is to methodically chip away at flagship legislation that the government wants to present as a triumph. And Badenoch succeeded in presenting several awkward realities for Labour: highlighting the progress in education standards under the Conservatives and calling the bill to reverse changes which are widely accepted to have contributed to improvements “an act of vandalism” and “attack on aspiration”. She punched the Labour bruise about being in hock to the trade unions (“It’s not teachers… it’s not parents… it’s definitely not children” benefitting from the bill, Badenoch argued, “it’s the trade unions”). And she reminded the House that education is one of the few areas the Tories can genuinely be proud of.

It was a pity, then, that she didn’t seem across the detail. Badenoch went hard on the idea that the bill would cap teacher pay. Had she been paying attention, she would have known the schools minister has this week confirmed the government will table an amendment clarifying “a floor with no ceiling” in terms of pay. Unlucky.

Her other challenge, expertly exploited by Keir Starmer, was that there is an awful lot in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that isn’t about education policy. This includes Labour’s much-hyped breakfast club rollout, rules about schools not forcing parents to buy expensive uniforms, and a raft of new safeguarding measures that, in light of the tragic Sara Sharif case, feel more crucial than ever. The Prime Minister looked uncomfortable at moments (so, for that matter, did Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson sitting on the frontbench), but he could deflect Badenoch’s assault by pointing to the rest of the bill and accusing her of instructing Tory MPs to vote against “important provisions for protecting children”. “This is not about breakfast clubs and school uniforms” Badenoch retorted. Starmer simply acted as if it was. Sorry Kemi.

Still, this tactic of putting legislation under the microscope has the potential to be more damaging in future – and is more in line with the goal of actually opposing the government rather than just making headlines by pontificating on the Twitter issue of the day. So we might see more of it from Badenoch, especially given the pressure she is facing from her own team. Today’s ConservativeHome shadow cabinet league table, based on a survey of Tory party members, makes grim reading. Badenoch has fallen from top, where she has been since the election, to seventh place. It’s a rapid fall from grace: ConHome notes that her popularity rating has dropped 39 points since the new year. Shadow chancellor Mel Stride tops the rankings, with perpetual leadership contender Robert Jenrick in second place. Ouch. We’ll see if Badenoch’s attacks on Labour’s school policy help her fend off doubts she doesn’t have what it takes to lead the Tories at their nadir. Stay tuned.

Other PMQ moments to flag: Labour’s Darren Paffrey raising the leasehold scandal (you can listen to our New Statesman podcast on exactly that topic here), Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay pressing Starmer on his position regarding a third runway at Heathrow (bitter splits are emerging in the cabinet), and shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp earning a personal reprimand from the Speaker for an over-enthusiastic heckle.

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But the prize for this session goes once again to Ed Davey, who wanted to know how Louise Casey could possibly have the time to lead the “rapid audit” into grooming gangs when she was already leading the government’s social care inquiry. Starmer answered with some fudging on timing (apparently the grooming gangs audit is only three months, so will be completed before the social care inquiry formally kicks off), but he was squirming. It was the most awkward he had looked all session. Another reminder of how the Liberal Democrats are using their status as the third biggest party to highlight social care, and a lesson for Badenoch: sometimes it’s best to keep things simple.

[See more: Team Trump’s real feelings about Starmer’s Labour]

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