Keir Starmer accuses Boris Johnson of ‘serial incompetence’ in his response to coronavirus pandemic

Sir Keir Starmer accused Boris Johnson of “serial incompetence” in his response to coronavirus, as the prime minister dodged questions over when he first became aware of the looming debacle over exam results in the summer.

In the first session of Prime Minister’s Questions since the House of Commons returned from its summer break, the Labour leader called on Mr Johnson to “get a grip”, saying he had “wasted” the last three months “lurching from crisis to crisis, U-turn to U-turn” when he should have been preparing the UK for a possible resurgence of Covid-19 in the autumn and winter.

But the prime minister insisted that his government had “succeeded in turning the tide of this pandemic” in spite of “negativity and constant sniping” from the opposition.

In angry exchanges, the prime minister was rebuked by Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle for using his replies to attack the leader of the opposition rather than answering his questions.

And Sir Keir told him: “This has been a wasted summer. The government should have spent it preparing for the autumn and winter.

“Instead they have lurched from crisis to crisis, U-turn to U-turn.

“To correct one error or even two might make sense. But when the government’s knocking up 12 U-turns and rising, the only conclusion is serial incompetence. That serial incompetence is holding Britain back.

“Will the prime minister take responsibility and finally get a grip?”

Even as Sir Keir was speaking, the Department of Health announced a further U-turn, reversing the easing of local lockdown restrictions in Bolton and Trafford in response to council complaints that it had come too early.

But Mr Johnson told the Commons: “I take full responsibility for everything that has happened under this government throughout my period in office.

“And actually what has happened so far is that we have succeeded in turning the tide of this pandemic, in spite of ... the negativity and the constant sniping from the opposition, we are seeing a country that is not only going back to school but going back to work.”

The prime minister ducked repeated demands from the Labour leader to tell the Commons when he was first made aware of the faults in the algorithm being proposed by exams regulator Ofqual to determine A-level and GCSE grades for students unable to sit the tests because of Covid-19.

“He either knew of the problem with the algorithm and did nothing or he didn’t know when it should have,” Sir Keir told MPs.

Ofqual chair Roger Taylor this morning told a Commons committee that the system of calculating grades was a “worst-case scenario” imposed by education secretary Gavin Williamson against the watchdog’s advice that it would be better for children to sit socially distanced exams.

But Mr Johnson – who hailed the results as “robust” when they were first unveiled, only to U-turn after a storm of anger from distressed pupils and parents – sought to point the finger of blame at Ofqual.

He told the Commons: “Ofqual made it absolutely clear time and again that in their view, the system that was in place was robust. Ofqual is... an independent organisation and credit had to be given to their views.”

The PM repeatedly attempted to turn the debate on to the question of whether Sir Keir had supported the return of pupils to schools, and fired off a scattershot of accusations against the Labour leader – at one point even accusing him of supporting “an IRA-condoning politician”. This prompted a furious rejoinder from Sir Keir, who pointed out that he had prosecuted republican terrorists as director of public prosecutions.

When Johnson failed to withdraw the allegation, Sir Keir told MPs: “I asked him to do the decent thing, but doing the decent thing and this prime minister don’t go together.”

Responding to the PM’s demand that he should say that schools are safe for children to return, Sir Keir said: “I’ve said it so many times. School is safe. My own children have been in school throughout.

“There is no issue on this. The prime minister is seeking to divide.”

Sir Keir accused Mr Johnson of being “just tin-eared and making it up as he goes along”.

He added: “He’s fooling nobody, even his own MPs have run out of patience.”

He cited a number of Tory MPs expressing frustration at government U-turns, including one reported to have said: “It’s mess after mess, U-turn after U-turn, it’s a fundamental issue of competence, God knows what’s going on, there’s no grip.”

And he added: “His own MPs are right aren’t they?”

Mr Johnson branded the Labour leader as “Captain Hindsight, leaping on a bandwagon, opposing a policy that he supported two weeks ago”.

But Sir Keir replied: “The problem is he’s governing in hindsight, that’s why he’s making so many mistakes.”

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