One of Boris Johnson’s last PMQs – and one of the strangest

Starmer was relaxed and had some good lines, but strategically he allowed the prime minister to get the better of him, writes John Rentoul

Tricksy to the end: Johnson intends to avoid PMQs next week (PA)

That was one of the strangest Prime Minister’s Questions. Boris Johnson was greeted by a huge cheer from the Conservative benches. There is probably a German word for guilt-shouting. Many Labour MPs joined in with ironic support for someone who has driven support for their party to unexpected heights in opinion polls.

There was a pause for a publicity stunt by two MPs who got themselves thrown out of the chamber, who will not be rewarded with attention here. Then it was Keir Starmer’s chance to use his six questions to say, in effect, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

What the Labour leader didn’t know, however, was that Johnson intended to make this his last PMQs, so denying Starmer a final assault next week. In answer to Starmer’s sixth question, Johnson said that, if the new leader were elected by acclamation, it was possible that this would be their last confrontation.

Tricksy to the end, Johnson knows that such a scenario is unlikely – indeed, Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, is keen to avoid a repeat of Andrea Leadsom’s withdrawal six years ago, which deprived Conservative Party members of a say in the election of Theresa May. Hence the (unenforceable) rule this time requiring candidates to promise not to withdraw at the last stage.

But it looks as if Johnson intends to avoid PMQs next week anyway – does he have another trip to Ukraine planned? In which case this was his farewell, which accounts for the surprisingly sorrowful tone of his performance today. “It is perfectly true that I leave not at a time of my choosing,” he said, before declaring that “I will be leaving soon with my head held high”.

He thanked Starmer for the style of his opposition, saying that it was “considerably less lethal than many other members of this House”. In an echo of Tony Blair ushering in the “big clunking fist” of Gordon Brown to succeed him, Johnson said any one of the eight candidates competing for his job “could wipe the floor with Captain Crasherooney Snoozefest”.

Starmer was relaxed and had some good lines, telling Johnson that he wouldn’t have to worry about following the rules now that he was leaving office, but strategically he allowed the prime minister to get the better of him.

Johnson had opened PMQs by announcing that the first cost of living payments of £326 would be arriving in the bank accounts of 8 million vulnerable people tomorrow. This gave him the high moral ground, not just over Starmer, but over the punk Thatcherite fantasists vying to succeed him. Several of them seem to think using the benefits system to get help to low-income families is “socialism” and therefore a terrible idea.

Which is why Starmer made a mistake in failing to address the cost of living crisis himself. Instead, the Labour leader’s first question, after he had done the weak jokes, was to ask if the prime minister would scrap non-dom status.

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There are some rather obvious problems with this question. One is that non-dom status was retained by the last Labour government because it is a useful way of attracting internationally mobile investors to the UK. Another is that by focusing on non-dom status Starmer revealed that the candidate that Labour fears is Rishi Sunak, whose wife’s former tax-efficient status is controversial.

And another is that an attack on non-dom status – and Starmer’s next question on offshore schemes to avoid tax – needs to be balanced by concern about the cost of living for people on low incomes.

Without that side of the equation, Starmer sounded as if he is interested only in doing down the rich rather than raising up the poor. One of his advisers revealed how he should have handled PMQs after the event by saying that Labour’s attack line against Rishi Sunak was: “He put your taxes up while avoiding his own.”

What an irony if Johnson’s final PMQs allowed him to pose as the defender of 8 million vulnerable people while Starmer espoused the politics of envy.