Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer butt heads in post-PMQs spat
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer have reportedly been involved in a heated confrontation after today’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).
Starmer confronted the Prime Minister just outside the House of Commons, after a back-and-forth during PMQs over whether the Labour leader had in the past called for the UK to stay in the EU’s medicines regulator.
A dozen MPs are said to have witnessed the encounter.
One eyewitness to the confrontation told The Sun that Starmer “had a bit of a meltdown”, with another MP adding: “He was clearly very rattled and kept saying to the PM ‘it’s not true, it’s not true'”.
Other media reports claim that Starmer had to be dragged away from the spat by a fellow Labour MP.
Johnson claimed during PMQs that Starmer had on four occasions called for the UK to stay in the European Medicines Agency (EMA), a move which may have slowed the UK’s vaccine roll out.
Starmer denied the charge, however it has been revealed that he did call for the UK to stay in the EMA on multiple occasions while Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader.
Starmer’s spokesperson later said that the Labour leader had “misheard” Johnson at PMQs.
“On a number of occasions the Prime Minister has wrongly claimed that Labour wanted to join the EU’s vaccine programme,” they said.
“That is inaccurate and the claim has been found to be untrue. This afternoon during Prime Minister’s Questions, Keir misheard the Prime Minister and assumed he was making the same false accusation again.
“Keir accepts that, on this occasion, the Prime Minister was referring to old comments about the European Medicines Agency and Keir admits he was wrong and made a mistake in his response.”
Downing Street declined to comment on the incident.