Keir Starmer tore into Boris Johnson today by likening him to Jabba the Hutt and accusing him of giving people the “ick”.
The Labour leader said the prime minister thinks he’s Obi-Wan Kenobi but really he was the Star Wars villain “Jabba the Hutt”.
During a particularly noisy prime minister’s questions, Starmer said: “As for his boasting about the economy, he thinks he can perform Jedi mind tricks on the country. ‘These aren’t the droids you’re looking for, no rules were broken, the economy is booming’.
“The problem is the force just isn’t with him any more. He thinks he’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, the truth is he’s Jabba the Hutt. Last week he stood there and boasted that we would continue to grow the economy, this week it turns out the economy shrank for the second month in a row. How does it help Britain to have an ostrich Britain with his head in the sand?”
The PM hit back saying: “There he goes again, running this country down...we’ve got the highest employment...we’ve got lower unemployment than France, Germany, Italy, Canada. We’ve got the highest number of people in payroll jobs.”
He added: “Just in the first five months of this year this country has attracted I think £16 billion of investment in its tech sector...three times as much as Germany, twice as much as France, he should be talking this country up, not running it down.”
Starmer went on to liken Johnson’s “game playing” to Love Island, warning the prime minister could be booted out for giving the public the “ick”.
The Labour leader said: “He says the economy is booming when it’s shrinking. He’s game playing so much he thinks he’s on Love Island.
“The trouble is, prime minister, that I’m reliably informed that contestants that give the public the ‘ick’, get booted out.”
Johnson replied: “We’re helping people with the cost of living, with £1,200. On July 14 the money will be going into people’s bank accounts. Why can we do that? Because we have the fiscal firepower to do it, because the economy is in a robust shape, with record numbers of people in payroll employment.”
He added: “He has the chance now to clear it up: he can oppose Labour’s rail strikes right now, he can disagree, I give him that opportunity, let him disagree with the union barons who would add to people’s costs in the coming weeks.”
Starmer countered: “I don’t want the strikes to go ahead. He does so he can feed on the division.”