Keir Starmer tore into Boris Johnson amid claims the prime minister is planning to bring in a windfall tax despite ruling one out for months.
The Labour leader said the imminent “U-turn” was timed to deflect attention from Sue Gray’s report into partygate.
The Labour leader, who has been dubbed “Captain Hindsight” by the prime minister, said: “I’m told hindsight is a wonderful thing!”
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer said: “It’s been four and a half months since Labour first called for a windfall tax on oil and gas profits…every week he has a new reason for not doing it.
“He ordered all his MPs to vote against it last week, and now, surprise surprise, he’s backing it.
“Prime minister, I’m told that hindsight is a wonderful thing…whilst he dithered and delayed households across the country suffered when they didn’t need to.
“What is it about the Sue Gray report that first attracted him to a U-turn this week?”
The PM hit back: “There is no surprise about Labour’s lust to put up taxes. There is nothing original about… they get on it. They absolutely love to confiscate other people’s assets. What we prefer to do is make sure that we have the measures that are in place to drive investment in our country and drive jobs.
“And it’s thanks to the steps that we took, thanks to the fact that we came out of Covid faster than any other European country which would not have been possible if we had listened to him, that we now have… unemployment at the lowest level since 1974. Put that in your pipe.”
The clashes came after Gray’s report blamed “senior leadership” at the top of government for allowing lockdown-busting parties to take place in Downing Street and Whitehall.
In an implicit criticism of Boris Johnson, she said those in charge “at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility” for what went on.
She also said the behaviour of those involved “fell well short” of the standards the public expected of those running the country.
The 37-page report into 16 gatherings in Downing Street and Whitehall was finally handed to the prime minister at around 10am this morning.
It followed the conclusion of Operation Hillman, the Metropolitan Police’s partygate investigation.
The force issued 126 fixed penalty notices to 83 people, including the prime minister, his wife Carrie and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak.
However, despite attending several other gatherings investigated as part of the probe, Johnson received no more fines.
In her report, Gray said: “The events that I investigated were attended by leaders in government. Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen.
“It is also the case that some of the more junior civil servants believed that their involvement in some of these events was permitted given the attendance of senior leaders.
“The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture.”