Got your number: Badenoch, you won’t be surprised to read, was unsatisfied, arguing Starmer “doesn’t want to answer a question about taking responsibility, because he likes to blame everyone else except himself.” She accused the chancellor of “twisting the facts” and asked if Reeves would comply with any Financial Conduct Authority investigation over the biggest post-budget row …
If economic forecasts send you to sleep: Opposition parties claim the chancellor told porkies about the fiscal situation to justify a planned manifesto-breaching income tax hike, which was later ditched. Reeves naturally denies any such charge. Still with us?
This blessed plot: The PM gave as good as he got, accusing the Tory leader of “completely losing the plot” and said the government was “turning the page” on the Tories’ financial record. However, the briefing wars may mean members of the public struggle to spot the difference between the red and blue parties.
Case in point: The Tory leader had plenty of fun reading out anonymous briefings from irate Cabinet ministers. “The handling of this budget has been a disaster from start to finish,” Badenoch quoted, looking across the despatch box to speculate who was the culprit. “Was it him? Was it her?” she joked, pointing at different ministers.
The hardest word: The session may be called Prime Minister’s Questions, but Starmer repeatedly said Badenoch should “get up now and apologize” for claiming Reeves had misled the public. The Tory leader, who’d have thought it, didn’t oblige and continued her forthright attacks: “She doesn’t belong in the Treasury, she belongs in la la land.” Brutal scenes.
Whip hand: Badenoch had one final go at landing a blow by highlighting the scrapped two-child benefit cap, despite previously removing the whip from seven Labour MPs who supported that measure just after the election. “How did it suddenly become affordable at the very time he needed to save his own skin?” Badenoch cried.