Rishi Sunak claims he suspended Lee Anderson ‘right away’ – however he did not

Rishi Sunak has claimed he suspended Lee Anderson “straight away” although he did not.

At a fiery Prime Minister’s Questions, the PM boasted about his “principles” as he tried to dodge questions on why he has not punished Liz Truss for her behaviour at a right-wing convention within the US final week. The Labour chief criticised Mr Sunak for being “too weak” to take motion towards the ex-PM after she stayed silent in an interview the place Tommy Robinson was referred to as a “hero” and claimed the “deep state” sabotaged her plans as PM.

The PM hit again at Mr Starmer for not being fast sufficient to droop a Labour candidate over antisemitism claims. He mentioned: “He talks about leadership. He talks about change, but when I learnt of something that I didn’t agree with, I suspended one of my MPs straight away.

“But when he learnt of vile, anti-semitic remarks made by a Labour candidate, what did he do? He instructed his staff to defend him. He despatched a Shadow Cabinet Minister to marketing campaign for him and he personally backed him for days and that is the distinction between us. I act on my ideas. He hasn’t obtained any.”

The PM suspended Mr Anderson final weekend after he claimed London Mayor Sadiq Khan was managed by Islamists. But he didn’t take away the whip from him “straight away”, slightly he dithered for a day and solely took motion after being criticised for failing to do something.

Mr Khan, who’s the primary Muslim to be London Mayor, had accused the PM and his Cabinet of “condoning” racism by means of their “deafening silence” over the feedback. He additionally argued there was “a hierarchy when it comes to racism” and that Muslims will probably be “really concerned” about getting into into politics.

Mr Starmer instructed the PM to take some “accountability” for his celebration as he criticised him for failing to take motion towards ex-PM Ms Truss who “spent last week claiming that Britain is run by a shadowy cabal made up of activists, the deep state and most chillingly of all the Financial Times”. He requested the PM: “At what point did his party give up on governing and become the political wing of the Flat Earth Society?”

Mr Sunak accused the Labour chief of being “spineless” for backing his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn and accused him of getting “sat there while anti-semitism ran rife” within the celebration. He additionally criticised Mr Starmer for being gradual to ditch Azhar Ali, Labour’s Rochdale by-election candidate, after a recording emerged of him suggesting Israel intentionally allowed its residents to be killed so it might invade Gaza.