Sunak may have 'given up' but he can always rely on Labour MPs to make Starmer look silly

Rishi Sunak came in to Prime Minister's questions today looking tired and sounding flat.

Interest rates going up dragging mortgage costs with them, inflation not going down and dozens of Tory MPs thinking they are facing an extinction level election does that to a Prime

Minister's morale.

It is almost amazing he just didn't take a sickie and ask his deputy Oliver Dowden to substitute.

But even at his lowest point (not to say things can't get worse, they can), Mr Sunak can always rely on one set of people to help him out at PMQs - Labour MPs.

As Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer drew himself up to tackle the glaring holes and contradictions in Tory policy, the ever well prepared Mr Sunak was ready for him.

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Starmer quite rightly kicked off pointing out that the housing minister said it was the intention of the government to build 300,000 new homes a year but a Conservative leaflet in the

Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election (called as a result of Boris Johnson quitting the scene) attacked the policy.

How could the Prime Minister explain the contradiction? How indeed?

Well his answer was simply to highlight the glaring holes in Labour's own policy, apparently ready to concrete over the greenbelt and set targets.. except of course in their own

constituencies.

Mr Sunak calmly noted: "Unfortunately for him (Starmer), the shadow Deputy Prime Minister, shadow minister for women, shadow health, justice, defence, business, Northern Ireland and Scotland

ministers are all united against more housebuilding in their areas!

"I have to say to them though, Mr Speaker, they don't have to worry too much because he's never actually kept a promise he's made!"

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It was quite a list to reel off and what followed was essentially a series of exchanges on who is the biggest NIMBY (not in my back yard) party.

Eventually, as he often does, Starmer gave up on the line of attack.. and moved back to mortgages instead.

Tory MPs have told Express.co.uk that they are "terrified" about the repossession orders coming in on people's homes in the coming months, and Starmer knows it.

But the real hurt he inflicted on the Prime Minister was a rare moment of speaking off the cuff.

Starmer looked over at Sunak and saw his body language and said out loud: "He's given up. You can see he's given up."

He repeated the line several times and it was hard to deny as an exhausted looking Prime Minister got to his feet again.

While Starmer may be struggling to land blows in the weekly show piece event the suspicion by many Conservative MPs looking at a largely empty parliamentary agenda is that the government

under Sunak really has given up.

That, they believe is why Labour leads so comfortably in the polls.

But in the end the issues Starmer raised today will be the decisive ones in the election.

If people cannot afford their mortgages or to buy or rent a home then they will lose confidence in the government.

Starmer's best line may have been: "We [Labour] are the party of home ownership now."

Had she not been cremated I suspect that somewhere in the Royal Hospital Chelsea Margaret Thatcher would be spinning in her grave.

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