PMQs: Rishi Sunak faces general election call after Tory peerage row

Labour leader Keir Starmer asks why Conservatives 'spent week arguing over which of them gets a peerage'

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. PA

Rishi Sunak was urged to call an immediate general election by the leader of the opposition on Wednesday in the wake of the Tory peerage row.

Keir Starmer used Prime Minister's Questions to urge Mr Sunak to “end the boasting, excuses and Tory chaos” and criticise the government for soaring supermarket prices and spiralling mortgage rates.

Labour leader Mr Starmer asked Mr Sunak why the Conservative Party “spent this last week arguing over which of them gets a peerage” while the public was struggling.

“All across the country, people are worried about their bills, the price of the weekly shop and the spiralling mortgage rates,” he said.

“So why has the Tory party spent this last week arguing over which of them gets a peerage?”

Mr Sunak replied: “In line with a long-established convention of previous prime ministers having the ability to submit honours, I followed the process to the letter, in convention of long-standing process.”

He insisted prime ministers from both parties “have always upheld the convention of non-interference on political honours”.

Mr Starmer pointed out that “for all his tough talk after the event, the Prime Minister did sign off the honours list”.

“That means that those who threw a Downing Street party the night before the late queen sat alone at her husband's funeral will now receive awards from the king,” he said.

“If he is so tough, why didn't he block it?”

The Prime Minister replied by again saying the government “followed due process and convention”.

“My predecessors may not have agreed with Labour's choices of Tom Watson or Shami Chakrabarti, but the same precedent stood then as it does now. And I'd expect a knight like him to understand that,” Mr Sunak said.

Mr Starmer replied: “Honours should be for public service not Tory cronies.”

“Isn't it the case that he was too weak to block [former prime minister Boris] Johnson's list, and that also means that those who spent their time helping cover up Johnson's lawbreaking are rewarded by becoming lawmakers for the rest of their lives?

“Is his message to the British public: 'If you don't like it, tough'?”

Mr Sunak said it was “right” that the honours system recognised people.

The Prime Minister added: “But he talks about putting people in the House of Lords: perhaps he could explain why he put forward for a peerage the former Labour MP Tom Watson who spread vicious conspiracy theories that were totally and utterly untrue, damaged public discourse and inflicted misery on innocent people?”

Mr Starmer claimed the country was paying the price of the “endless cycle of chaos and distraction”.

“The Tory economic crash means that millions of mortgage holders will pay thousands of pounds more next year and the blame lies squarely at the door of a government more focused on the internal wars of the Tory party than the needs of the country,” he said.

“Does he not think that those responsible should hang their heads in shame?”

Mr Sunak said reducing inflation was his “number one economic priority”.

“Last week what did we see?,” he said. “Labour confusion with the shadow chancellor attempting to water down their plans to borrow £28 billion more a year, but she was promptly overruled by the shadow energy secretary, the former leader, who said that they were 100 per cent not abandoning their pledge.

“It really looks like Labour's offer never changes. It is uncontrolled borrowing and more chaos with Ed Miliband.”

Mr Starmer told the Commons: “There's only one party that broke the economy and they're sitting right there. And there's a reason they can't fix the problems facing the country, because they never take responsibility for the damage that they've done.

“And it's not just Johnson – the prime minister's immediate predecessor is hoping to reward those who made her reign such a rip-roaring success.

“On her honours list are the masterminds of that kamikaze budget – the economic extremists of the Institute of Economic Affairs, those whose disastrous ideas crashed the economy and left the country to pick up the pieces.

“Will the Prime Minister block that honours list or will he buckle to her as well?”

Mr Sunak called Labour's economic policy on energy a “disastrous economic idea”, claiming it will jeopardise 200,000 jobs and Britain’s energy security at a time of international conflict.

Mr Starmer used his final question to call for a general election. “End the boasting, the excuses, the Tory chaos, see if he can finally find somebody, anybody, anywhere to vote for him and call a general election now,” he said.

Mr Sunak replied by criticising Labour for voting against the government's immigration reforms and measures to tackle disruptive protests. “We're getting on and delivering for the country,” he said.