'That was close to perfect' | James O'Brien reacts to Starmer's final PMQs

Will it be normal PMQs

I don't want to be rude about Cammie Bader, so let me phrase this question diplomatically

Will she, I've asked you this before in other circumstances, and the evidence that subsequently emerged provided an answer

and that answer was no, but will she be respectful of the moment and the man? I think she probably will use this as her final opportunity

to kick the boot into Keir Starmer. I don't think we're going to see some of the niceties

that we regularly see with final PMQs. I hope you're wrong. Prime Minister's. I hope I'm wrong too, but I don't think that's her style. I just don't

think she wants to do it and I don't think she, anyone would really believe her if she

did do it. If she got up today and said, you know, actually Keir Starmer has had some great

achievements and we'll be sad to see him go, I don't think anyone would believe her. She's moved so far beyond, it's the difference between parliamentary conversation and Twitter-based

conversation is that the nastiness and the vitriol has been so baked in to her performances

that to backtrack now and be nice would just look inauthentic and unconvincing

It would. I don't think anyone would believe her. What a shame. And I don't generally... I don't know if you heard Mel Stride

the Shadow Chancellor, speaking on the Sunday round. He was asked, you know, is there anything from Rachel Reeves

that you can say that you think she's done a good job on? And he said, oh, no, I'm going to scratch you in my head

I can't think of anything, which is disingenuous probably, isn't it? Because let's be honest

everybody will probably look at Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer's record and you'll be able to pull out positives and negatives

everybody can do that but the fact that he was unable to do so makes me think that kemi badenoff

probably will will not take the opportunity to to say thank you to sakir starma she'll probably just

want to essentially gloat in taking him down i think is probably how she would we'd like to

look at that of course she'll claim the credit for it done by his own party of course but she

will i think farage has already claimed it was all down to him badenoff will claim it's all down

to her the only thing missing is the boogie exactly sunshine the moonlight and blame it on

the boogie so what will she do what will she go for what are what are his most vulnerable spots

yeah i think obviously the economic record is mixed and rachel reeves has spent the last couple

of days trying to defend it but the the two of them keir starmer and rachel reeves so inextricably

linked as chancellor and prime minister and arguably lots you know as i was speaking to

somebody yesterday who's you know serving a special advisor who said you know so many of

the big mistakes that this government have made in the last two years lead back to the treasury unfortunately and that's that's the the general view of lots of people in government is that the

treasury and rachel reeds have made mistakes and that has led in part to the downfall of this

government so that will be a definite weak one for for her to to put the boot in although they

remain ahead of the time in the latest polls well ahead of the tory so there's this curious

combination of epic public failure and yet huge self-satisfaction and celebration now as mystic

jim predicted with much of the right-wing media joining in particularly as they come to realize

that perhaps Farage is not the messiah and is a very naughty boy, she will just not acknowledge that

Starmer might be going, but the polling is better for the Labour Party than it has been in years

Sure, yeah, and maybe part of that is the burn and bounce. Of course it is

Potentially maybe Kemi Starmer, goodness, who's that? Kemi Badenot uses this Prime Minister's questions

to start attacking Andy Burnham, to start going after the man that's going to be in that position

in just a couple of days' time, because we're not going to get Andy Burnham versus Kemi Badenot

for a number of weeks because we're about to go into Parliament. How many weeks? Six to seven week recess

Six, seven? Six, seven, six, seven. My kids go nuts when I do that. I can't say that. Even Keir Starmer found out

You're not allowed to do it. Oh, sorry. It's just like a reflex. It's like a reflex. I know. I just pretend

Can we scratch that? Can we delete that, Keith? Don't. Don't let that go anywhere

I want it off YouTube. I want it off the tape I want it off the global player everything Don rewind it Nothing All right I never did that never happened Ed Davey presumably will be a little bit more gentlemanly He be a bit kinder to Keir Starmer yeah although saying that every time Ed Davey is

nice to Keir Starmer, he ends up with a slapdown. I just don't think, I don't think Keir Starmer

will be too respectful back, but yes, I think you've got much more of a chance there. But yes

there is, it's an odd time when a Prime Minister is handing over for his final Prime Minister's

questions and you'll you'll see probably lots of backbench mps say lots of nice things about

keir starmer um but privately behind um closed doors they are the ones of course as we know

that have basically ousted him from his position him in the cat them in the cabinet were the two

real final straws for for keir starmer's government and i'm sure we will see lots of

talk about keir starmer's legacy he will obviously want to use this last pmqs to say

these are all the things i've done in the last two years you know breakfast clubs i've put this

defence spending planning i've got the economy restabilized i've got the world stage restabilized

i've had a relationship with president trump i've been a statesman internationally and i think he

will be absolutely wanting to trumpet his record there and kemi bay not all doing all she can to

to essentially trash it and say the next guy it's not going to be any better indeedy doody without

mentioning the fact that they're beating her in the polls still despite the fact that the current

government has had uh far from a happy time of it in the last two and a half years why did he get

And forgive me, this might sound like a gotcha. I don't know the answer, so don't worry if you don't

He got a Légion d'uner yesterday in France from Emmanuel Macron. The first serving British Prime Minister ever to get that on

Yeah, for his work on Ukraine, they said. A coalition of the willing, and I think it's fair to say he has really led on that

When I spoke to Yvette Cooper earlier this week, she says that she thinks one of the things that Andy Burnham will be absolutely keen to stress

is that the relationship on Ukraine and our strength standing by them will absolutely be certain under Andy Burnham

and apparently there was a report out today saying that he's been told he needs to develop

a personal relationship with Zelensky to make that happen, which is interesting

because I'm not sure the two of them have ever met. They've got a similar dress sense

That's true, they do, they do. Swap black t-shirt notes. The anti-uniform wasn't wearing it

I might do this tomorrow, actually, or before the end of the week. Not so much where did it all go wrong for Kirstenmer

but the single biggest thing. I suspect not going to war in Iran

As more time passes. that just in terms of the most effective

the bravest political thing that he did, to tell Donald Trump to sling his hook

to accept the abuse from everybody, albeit that they pretend otherwise now

Bader Nock and Farage both absolutely full-throated in their expressed desire to do whatever Donald Trump wanted them to do

Now beating hasty retreats and reverse ferrets galore. He got that absolutely right

Yeah, and I think, you know, critics will say that was the way the wind was blowing in our relationship and Donald Trump's relationship

but I agree with you. I think it's probably one of his strengths. It's more right every day

Absolutely. I turn to this Prime Minister's final questions. Mr Speaker, I wanted to make sure that I got the tone right today

So I looked back at his final questions to Boris Johnson. And luckily for him, I plan to be much gentler than he was that day

Week after week, the Prime Minister and I have clashed at this dispatch box and rarely agreed on anything

But there is one thing I did admire. When President Zelensky was attacked in the White House, the Prime Minister showed leadership and invited him to Downing Street

That was the right thing to do. I thank her for her comments about Ukraine

We have stood united on Ukraine in this House. We supported the last government in the approach that they took and we've taken that approach on

That meeting with President Zelensky the day after he was evicted from the Oval Office he left alone he got a plane we got him to come to London and I asked him to come to Downing Street straight away and I walked out to meet him I gave him a hug and then I showed him what was in the street which was many people who had come thinking that he was visiting Downing Street

and the moment he got out the car and hugged me, they cheered on the top of their voices, the British people

to tell President Zelensky exactly what they thought of him and the way that he had been treated

And that was a really emotional moment because it was the first human contact

he had effectively had outside of his immediate team since he left the Oval Office

That was pretty close to perfect. I have to point out, Natasha, that you were wrong

I was so wrong. And I was forlorn. I hoped, against hope, that Kemi Bader not would show grace and decorum

And she showed it in, I mean, on levels I've never seen from her before

In fact, I'm so taken with the idea that that's what she would be like if Twitter didn't exist

No doubt he will be disappointed that he won't be emulating his hero, Harold Wilson, in winning multiple elections

However, we all hope that he may be about to emulate him in another way

by being the Prime Minister when England win the World Cup. That is something that every single one of us in this House should get behind

especially the SNP. As leader of the opposition, the Prime Minister led his party to a landslide

after a historic defeat. I fully intend to do the same. But if you want to lead this country

if you want to lead this country, you should set out your plans to do so

We have. But one politician intends to spend the summer avoiding scrutiny, refusing to set out his plans

So does he not agree that what the country deserves is a televised debate between Nigel Farage and Count Binface

It's almost like she prefers that version of herself. She was charming. She was funny

She was warm. She was kind. She was measured. She was decent

She was insightful. She was thoughtful. She was all of the things that she worked so hard most weeks to pretend that she isn't

I know how much the Prime Minister has come to enjoy our exchanges. In fact, in the King's speech last month, he told me that on difficult days, my input was always a ray of sunshine

He might not have answered many of the questions I asked him, but at least he turned up

Yeah, I agree. I couldn't really put it better myself. That was a very pleasant and soft kind tone from her

It was more than pleasant, wasn't it? It was lovely. It was really lovely. Yeah, it was very fitting. And Keir Starmer obviously responded to that really well

And I think actually, you know, we spoke when Keir Starmer first became Prime Minister

and Kemi Baden-Hop first became Leader of the Opposition, and I very much was the impression with talking to people around them

that the pair didn't really like each other very much. I think that's probably changed. And I think, you know, when talking, when you refer back to what Keir Starmer said about she's reached out to me over when my brother died, when my home was attacked

And I really appreciated that. I think that is, you know, they have clearly been brought together by having to work together over the last two years

Let me wish her well and her family. We have had robust exchanges across this dispatch box

but she has extended kindness to me privately at very difficult times

including when there was an attempt to burn down our family home which deeply affected my family she reached out to me And when my brother died of cancer she reached out to me privately not across this dispatch box

And I thank her for that and the tribute that she's just made to my wife and children who mean the world to me

No matter what happens at the dispatch box, no matter what happens on the telly screens, at debates, in elections

behind the scenes, politicians, I'm afraid to say, are far more, there's far more in common than they have, than that divides them. And they

are far nicer to each other behind the scenes than you ever see. And you'd ever think watching

PMQs between the pair of them. So yeah, a very, a very nice final PMQs for Starmer. I think that

was the right decision for Kemi to not go hard on, on his record and allow him to, to talk up all of

the achievements. You know, it's his final time. He's not gonna be doing that again. And he was

keen to talk about defence, NHS waiting lists, the economy being more stabilised, the world stage

all of the things that we thought that he might talk about and portray what he thinks is his best record

And others will, of course, disagree, and others will say that they didn't think he had a brilliant two years as Prime Minister

but it's his final PMQs, it's his final outing that he can put across his case

and we can, I'm sure, dissect that over the next few days as we make this transition to a new Prime Minister

Who gets installed on Monday. Who gets installed on Monday. He'll be Labour leader on Friday

and new Prime Minister on Monday. But the House, as it stands, is going into recess

I'm not sure exactly the day, but it's later this week, early next. And we won't have any more Prime Minister's questions

so it will be a while. Andy Burnham will have a while to... Good, because that leaves a lovely taste in the mouth or in the ears, doesn't it

It does. That's a little reminder of what things can be like. And, of course, they have to bite chunks out of each other, but perhaps not..

We're quite the vitriol that has been witnessed and deployed in recent..

Well, for most of the last couple of years, to be honest with you. No, I'm quite emotional about that

Yeah, it was fun, wasn't it? It was light-hearted and fun, little jokes. I know how much he enjoys me and calls me a little ray of sunshine

says Kemi, when he comes up talking about Keir. And the line I liked as well from Keir Starmer about advice

I shall give my support privately if asked for, not publicly when not asked for

Crafted a good laugh, and I think that's probably fair. Keir Starmer, I think of any Prime Minister recently

has been more at risk of getting unhelpful advice from so many of his predecessors

Nicely put. A couple of people asking where Farage is. Of course, he's not an MP

He's not an MP anymore, so we can't even chastise him, but we can. I think the technical term is that he has taken the Chiltern Hundred

He has indeed, yeah. There's no Member of Parliament for Clepton as it stands

Just to be clear, the Chiltern Hundred are not like the Harbourn Millions. It's a completely different principle and political tradition

To my successor and each of you, I will give my full support

To all colleagues across the House, can I wish you good health and happiness

To all those in the gallery whose lives have been changed or improved by this Labour Government

and all across the country who struggle to be seen or heard, you're the reason I came into politics

To my wife and children, I love you. Goodbye. Thank you. Thank you