Critics lie in wait for PM
Analysis by Jon Craig, chief
political correspondent
At Prime
Minister’s Questions, Boris Johnson will have been relieved that his UK
vaccines “greed” gaffe – in a joke to Tory MPs that backfired – was barely
mentioned, apart from a couple of asides by the SNP’s Ian Blackford.
The prime minister may not be so lucky at his much longer appearance before the Liaison
Committee, however. Some of his sternest backbench critics – Conservative as
well as Labour and SNP – are lying in wait for him and poised to attack.
The
90-minute session – though they usually overrun – is divided into three
sections: the UK’s place in the world, COVID response and the economy, followed
by a closing question, likely to be on when parliament will get back to normal
post-COVID.
Questions on
the UK’s place in the world come from Sarah Champion, Tobias Ellwood, Angus
Brendan MacNeil and Darren Jones, of which the highlight is likely to be a
clash between the prime minister and Mr Ellwood, who chairs the Defence Select Committee.
Cuts in army
manpower most certainly did come up at PMQs. In fact they were the dominant
issue, raised by Sir Keir Starmer, who quoted Mr Ellwood’s opposition to the
cuts. So expect him to follow that up with some tough questions to the prime minister.
On COVID,
it’s Yvette Cooper, Meg Hillier, Jeremy Hunt, William Wragg and Stephen Crabb
and the highlights here are likely to be an attack from Ms Cooper, who chairs
the Home Affairs Select Committee and launched a fierce onslaught on borders
policy at the last hearing in January.
Questions on
the economy then come from Julian Knight, Huw Merriman and Mel Stride, before a
closing question from Karen Bradley, the former Northern Ireland secretary who
now chairs the procedure committee, which is proposing bringing MPs back to
Westminster.
At his
previous two appearances before the liaison committee, Mr Johnson has attempted
to give away as little as possible and has at times sounded evasive.
Let’s see
what he says this time about lessons learned from COVID and demands for a
public inquiry.
