Chaotic scenes broke out as Nigel Farage stood up to ask a question to the PM in the House of Commons – but the MP was left stunned by Keir Starmer’s response
PMQs: Nigel Farage told to ‘get on with it’ twice
Keir Starmer floored Nigel Farage with a putdown about him being obsessed with the US at PMQs.
Chaotic scenes broke out as Mr Farage stood up to ask a question to the PM in the House of Commons – but the MP was left stunned by Mr Starmer’s response.
The Reform UK leader asked about cuts to the winter fuel allowance as well as the costs of the Chagos Islands deal. He said he wanted some advice from the PM on what to tell his 25,000 constituents in Clacton on the issues.
The PM then made a savage joke alluding to Trump ally Mr Farage spending lots of time in the US and being missing in action in Clacton. “What he should say to the people of Clacton, when he finally finds Clacton, is that they should vote Labour,” Mr Starmer said.
It came as the Reform UK politician faced a barrage of shouts and jeers after deciding to attack a different MP who had criticised his party over claims it wants to charge people to use the NHS. Mr Farage responded to an earlier question from Labour backbencher John Slinger (Rugby), who claimed Reform wanted to introduce an insurance-based system for using the NHS.
Mr Farage said: “I can assure (him) that Reform want healthcare to be free at the point of delivery”, which prompted heckles of “nonsense” and “U-turn” from Labour MPs. Chaotic scenes broke out as Speaker Lindsay Hoyle was forced to intervene twice to calm the chamber – with MPs roaring with laughter when he says “I want to get this question over with”.
Mr Farage retorted that the shouts from MPs were a sign of “panic” – in reference to Reform UK surging in recent polls.
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When he finally asked Mr Starmer a question, the Clacton MP said: “What do I say to 25,000 constituents in Clacton, including 99-year-old Jim O’Dwyer, who flew a full set of missions on Lancaster bombers as a tail-end Charlie, as they’re losing winter fuel allowance, feeling the pinch, while at the same time they’re willing to give away a military base and pay £18billion for the privilege of doing so.”
The Prime Minister replied: “He talks of panic, the only panic is people using the NHS who know that under his policy he wants to charge them for using the NHS. What he should say to the people of Clacton – when he finally finds Clacton – is that they should vote Labour because we are stabilising the economy.”