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Politics

20th Jul 2022

Keir Starmer gives brutal assessment of Boris Johnson’s legacy

Jack Peat

“He’s a complete bullsh*tter and he took the p*ss out of the public” 

Sir Keir Starmer was in no mood to hold back as he appeared on the Rest is Politics podcast to give his view on outgoing Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

The Labour leader faced off with Johnson for the final time during PMQs on Wednesday, trading blows on the government’s record and using criticism from some of the Tory MPs hoping to succeed the PM.

Starmer asked if Tory former minister Kemi Badenoch (Saffron Walden) was right to say she had warned former chancellor Rishi Sunak that he was “handing taxpayers’ money directly to fraudsters in Covid loans”.

He added: “She says he dismissed her worries and that as a result he cost taxpayers £17 billion. Does the Prime Minister think that she’s telling the truth?”

In his final question, Sir Keir said: “I think the message coming out of this leadership contest is pretty clear: they got us into this mess and have no idea how to get us out of it.

“The Foreign Secretary (Liz Truss) says ‘we can’t go on with our current economic policy’. The member for Portsmouth North (Penny Mordaunt) bemoaned the fact ‘what we’ve been doing has not been good enough’. And the member for Saffron Walden probably puts it best when she simply asked ‘why should the public trust us, we haven’t exactly covered ourselves in glory’.

“Their words, their future leaders’ words.”

Ahead of the session in the House of Commons, Starmer spoke to Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart from the Rest is Politics podcast.

Asked what Johnson’s legacy will be, he responded: “I think that he is a complete bullsh*tter and I think he has been found out.”

Watch the clip in full below:

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