Keir Starmer looked desperate in attacking government ‘sleaze’ at PMQs – but the tactic may work

The Labour leader seems to hope that if he says the word often enough, he will ‘win’ out in any Commons clash with Boris Johnson, writes John Rentoul

If I say the word ‘sleaze’ often enough, the voters will believe it (via REUTERS)

Keir Starmer asked the question that I assumed he would avoid, because Boris Johnson’s answer was so obvious: “What does the prime minister think is the right thing to do if he receives a text message from a billionaire Conservative supporter asking him to fix tax rules?”

The BBC had just published a transcript of Johnson’s text exchange with entrepreneur James Dyson from a year ago, in which Dyson asked to clarify the tax status of his staff if they came to the UK to help with producing ventilators in the early stage of the coronavirus epidemic.

Johnson gave the obvious answer: “I make absolutely no apology at all for having done everything I possibly could – any prime minister would in those circumstances – to secure ventilators for the people of this country.”