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Boris Johnson has accused Keir Starmer of focusing on “trivia” and “pathetic lines of attack” after the Labor leader challenged him in the Commons on allegations of government harassment, waste of taxpayer money and conflicts of interest.
In questions from an often moody prime minister, Starmer referred to a foreword written by Johnson to the ministerial code – the rules of conduct in government – and accused Johnson of breaking a series of promises within it.
The foreword said there should be no intimidation or harassment, leaks, misuse of taxpayer money and conflicts of interest, Starmer said. “There are five promises in two sentences. How many of those promises does the prime minister believe his ministers have kept?
After Johnson avoided the question, simply saying that his ministers were “doing an exceptional job,” Starmer began leading the prime minister through each promise in turn. He first asked Johnson why she had kept Priti Patel as home secretary, after a report from her independent standards advisor, who later resigned, concluded that she had intimidated staff.
“I do not apologize for supporting a home secretary who is fulfilling the priorities of the people,” Johnson responded, adding that Patel had shown “iron determination” in his work.
After Starmer asked him about what he called a “serial leak” on Covid restrictions, and suggested that this was causing public anxiety, Johnson accused Starmer of concentrating on trivia.
Starmer then challenged Johnson about the amount of public money spent on personal protective equipment that could not be used. Johnson said Starmer was using “pathetic attack lines.”
The prime minister added: “It seems that he is simply attacking the government for changing heaven and earth, as we did, to obtain the medicines, the PPE, the equipment, the treatments that this country needed.”
Starmer asked Johnson about claims that contractors with government connections had been preferred for Covid-related contracts, and the appointment of friends and contacts to public positions.
“I think it’s a total cleanup – intimidation, harassment, leaks, waste of public money and obvious conflicts of interest,” Starmer said. It’s the same old story: one rule for the British public, another for the prime minister and his friends.
“Just look at the contrast in their attitude towards distributing public money to contracts that they do not fulfill, and their attitude towards the wage increases for key workers that kept the country going during this pandemic.”
Johnson accused Starmer of having a “deep and underlying hatred of the private sector” and of wanting to impose a “deranged form of state control.”
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