Lammy fluffs his lines in humiliating PMQs debut

John Rentoul on another bad day for the government

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The Conservatives are making the most of their status as the official opposition.

They may be down to just 119 MPs, trailing the “real” opposition of Nigel Farage’s Reform by a long way in the opinion polls. But they get to ask the questions of the prime minister, or his deputy, at noon on Wednesdays - and they have been making it count. Last week, Kemi Badenoch trapped Keir Starmer into admitting, in effect, that he was going to break a manifesto promise - several days before Rachel Reeves tried to make that admission on Labour's own terms.

Yesterday, Badenoch sent her substitute into the chamber to ask the questions of David Lammy, the deputy prime minister standing in for Starmer, who was on his way to Brazil.

For a moment, it looked as if James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, would be famous for 15 minutes for not being Robert Jenrick. It was almost as if Badenoch had chosen the least well-known member of her shadow cabinet to deputise for her to make the point that she did not choose her restlessly ambitious rival.