The PM mocked the Tory leader after she flip-flopped over the US/Israeli action in the Middle East, with Ms Badenoch saying she was against it less than a week after supporting it
Keir Starmer has ridiculed Kemi Badenoch for the “mother of all U-turns” after the Tory leader flip-flopped on joining the conflict in Iran.
The PM mocked the Tory leader after she flip-flopped over the US/ Israeli action in the Middle East, with Ms Badenoch saying she was against it less than a week after supporting it.
It came in an exchange that also saw the PM say he will keep the 5p hike in fuel duty due to come in September “under review”.
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Speaking at PMQs, he said: “I took the decision that we should not join the initial US/Israeli offensive against Iran. The leader of the opposition attacked me for that decision relentlessly. She said the UK should have joined the US and Israel in the initial offensive strikes.
“Then yesterday in the wake of the economic consequences the leader of the opposition totally abandoned her position. She told the BBC ‘I never said we should join’. She told the BBC ‘I haven’t said we should have gone in with the United States’. That is the mother of all U-turns on the single most important decision a Prime Minister can ever take. Whether to commit the United Kingdom to war or not.”
It came in response to the Tory Party leader asking the Prime Minister why “now is the right time to increase the cost of petrol”. Responding, the PM said: “We will keep the situation under review in light of what is happening in Iran. The most important issue is de-escalating the situation, and I come back to the leader of the opposition’s position. Whether to commit your country to war. The day after the initial US/Israeli strikes took place, her shadow foreign secretary said the attacks were ‘absolutely right and it’s a position my party supports’. Last Wednesday, the leader of the opposition said ‘we are in this war whether we like it or not’. As MPs laughed, Mr Starmer added: “I know they don’t want to hear it, I wouldn’t want to hear it if I was them either.”
The PM also offered assurance on energy bills, in response to a question from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey. Mr Starmer said: “People will be really worried about the impact on them, and just to reassure households that the cap is in place until the end of June, until July. We are working with the sector and with others, and with allies, to do everything we can to make sure those energy bills don’t rise. So, we’re working round the clock on that. The most important thing, the most effective thing, we can do is to work with our allies to find a way to de-escalate the situation.”