Kate Devlin, Whitehall editor – ‘Andy Burnham seized the moment in a way Keir Starmer never did’
It was a sticky start for Andy Burnham in his first PMQs as prime minister. He seemed to stumble as he tried to answer Kemi Badenoch’s opening question – about what requests for spending he has turned down since entering No 10. But he found his feet with her second question. This allowed him to wax lyrically about cutting taxes (VAT on electricity bills and business rates for pubs, in case you had missed them). It seemed she had fallen into a classic trap, allowing her opponent to get out the message he wanted rather than keeping him on the ropes. And he grabbed the opportunity with gusto – in a way Keir Starmer never did. The Tory leader will have to watch out for that in their future encounters. At the start of PMQs she accused Mr Burnham of being a “people pleaser”. But he certainly failed to please her today.
