Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak seemed remarkably friendly with one another at today’s State Opening of Parliament.
Starmer, the new prime minister, walked side-by-side with the leader of the opposition throughout the occasion, less than a fortnight after ousting Sunak from his job in No.10 Downing Street.
The PM is always expected to walk with their opposite number from the Commons to the House of Lords on the day of the State Opening as a formality, and then stand together by the doors of the chamber to hear the King’s Speech.
But Starmer and Sunak looked especially animated as they chatted away – and plenty of people noticed on social media.
Of course, both men would have been aware their every move was being filmed during their walk.
It is procedure for MPs to “talk loudly” during this ceremonial moment to show their independence from the upper house.
And, despite their awkward job swap, the two men chatted enthusiastically in the Commons after heading to the Lords, too.
Even Deputy PM Angela Rayner and deputy Tory leader Oliver Dowden followed suit, and were filmed smiling and chatting away.
The politicians’ friendliness will come as a surprise to some political pundits after the vicious fighting between the party leaders during the election campaign – particularly during their televised debates.
Electoral rivalries have not always changed into niceties when campaigns finish, either – Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson had a famously frosty walk back in 2019.
Then-PM Johnson had just secured a landslide victory in the general election, while Corbyn’s Labour took the lowest number of seats since 1935.
