Boris Johnson could count himself lucky. He wasn’t up against the RMT union leader. Mick Lynch has already seen off Kay Burley, Piers Morgan, Labour’s Jenny Chapman and several half-witted Tory MPs. Chris Philp and Jonathan Gullis were chewed up and spat out. So it would be a racing certainty that the Convict would come off worse in any one-to-one with Lynch. One very good reason why the Tories have made no effort to engage with the RMT.
But the Convict did have to face a revitalised Keir Starmer. In recent weeks, the Labour leader has seemed underpowered. As if his mind was elsewhere. But at Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions he was fully on it. Not all the gags landed, but then they didn’t need to. Johnson looked hopelessly out of his depth from the start. Powerless to defend his record. Not even the Tories now believe the Tory line that Labour is to blame for the rail strikes. More to the point, the public certainly seem to know where the fault lies.
