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Sir Keir Starmer pressed Boris Johnson on the ongoing sleaze scandal in a heated PMQs, calling the prime minister “a coward, not a leader”.
The Labour leader urged the PM to “do the decent thing and just say sorry for trying to give light to corruption” in the wake of the lobbying row which reared its head following the case of Owen Paterson.
Mr Paterson, who resigned as an MP earlier this month, was found to have breached lobbying rules in an “egregious” manner.
“Here’s the difference, when somebody in my party misbehaves, I kick them out. When somebody in his party misbehaves, he tries to get them off the hook,” Sir Keir told the Commons.
“I lead, he covers up.”
At the end of an ill-tempered session of PMQs, Conservative MP Michael Fabricant raised a point of order on Sir Keir’s use of the word “coward” and asked him to withdraw his comment.
Live updates from PMQs and the PM’s Liaison Committee grilling
Sir Keir replied: “I withdraw it, but he is no leader.”
Earlier in his questioning of the prime minister, the Labour leader said: “Weeks, weeks defending corruption. Yesterday, a screeching last-minute U-turn to avoid defeat on Labour’s plan to ban MPs from dodgy second contracts.
“But waving one white flag won’t be enough to restore trust, and there are plenty more opposition days to come, and we will not let the prime minister water down the proposals or pretend that it is job done.”
Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson is ‘not a leader’
Responding to Sir Keir, the prime minister attempted to question the Labour leader about any links with legal firm Mishcon de Reya.
The PM did not apologise for the affair surrounding Mr Paterson, but repeated it was a “mistake” to conflate the issue with reforming the standards process more generally.
“Well, yes, as…
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Source : skynews
