The Tories are not “holding the Trump card”, Commons leader Lucy Powell has said as she mocked Kemi Badenoch’s comparisons to the US President.
Ms Powell said her Tory counterpart Jesse Norman failed to say “anything supportive” about Mrs Badenoch after Mr Norman said Sir Keir Starmer was “becoming more Conservative before our eyes”.
The pair traded blows over their party leaders’ relationships to Donald Trump ahead of the Republican’s first meeting with the Prime Minister in Washington on Thursday.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is due to meet Donald Trump on Thursday (Carl Court/PA)
Ms Powell told MPs: “It’s another week of business questions, and another week that the shadow leader fails to say anything supportive about his own leader. I keep giving him ample opportunity to do so at these sessions each week.
“I thought he might want to highlight some of the recent speeches and interventions she’s made recently, given that they’ve had so little coverage.”
The Leader of the House of Commons referred to comments made by Mrs Badenoch last week where she stated that failure to renew the Conservative Party could lead to the loss of “our country and all of Western civilisation”.
The Conservative leader also likened herself to Mr Trump as she sought to explain what her party would do if they were to win power again.
Ms Powell said: “Was (Mr Norman) not taken with her claim that only the Conservatives are the guardians of Western civilisation. I know he takes his history very seriously, so what does he make of that claim?
“And did he not want to take the opportunity today to restate her claim that the Prime Minister’s big moves this week were all down to a letter he received from the Leader of the Opposition or does he realise, like the rest of us, that this is obviously absurd?
“And what about her suggestion that her leadership stint is akin to that of Donald Trump in his second term? I mean, come on.
“I think we can all see, can’t we, that it’s not quite going the way that they’d hoped for and I’m not sure if the honourable gentleman is a card player or not, but I’m sure he can agree with me – they’re not really holding the Trump card. It’s more of a busted flush.”
Mr Norman opened by saying the Government had come under “some fairly punishing criticism” from himself, due to their “series of entirely avoidable resignations, blunders and mishaps”.
He said: “I reported in December that genuine signs of reality were starting to break through in the Government’s so-called ‘plan for change’.
“The Prime Minister said that in 2010 the incoming government inherited public finances in desperate need of repair. He said that the UK needed a profound cultural shift away from a declinist mentality which has become comfortable with failure. And finally, and most notably, he said we cannot tax our way to prosperity or spend our way to better public services.
“The Prime Minister was right on all three counts, and he is right now to increase defence spending. It is not untrue to say that he is visibly becoming more Conservative before our eyes.”
Ms Powell responded: “(Mr Norman) wants to, I think, unfortunately, open up a difference on defence spending. But I just would gently remind him that the last time the government spent 2.5% on defence spending was under the last Labour government.
“His government made promise after promise on the never never. It never happened, and it wasn’t a credible plan.”
Ms Powell outlined Parliamentary business for the next two weeks, with Monday March 3 the remaining stages of the Finance Bill, Tuesday 4 all stages of the Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill, Wednesday 5 debates on estimates relating to the Department for Health and Social Care, the Foreign Office and the Department for Business and Trade, Thursday 6 proceedings on the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Bill, followed by general debate on International Women’s Day and on a motion on political finance rules, with Private Members Bills on Friday 7.
Business for the week commencing March 10 will include Monday 10 second reading of the Crime and Policing Bill, and Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 remaining stages of the Employment Rights Bill.