Starmer and Badenoch Clash in Fiery PMQs Over Defence Spending

Prime Minister's Questions erupted in heated exchanges as Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch launched a sustained attack on Sir Keir Starmer over his government's delayed defence spending plans. Badenoch tore into the Prime Minister for his failure, after more than six months in office, to set out a concrete strategy to increase military funding, accusing him of being 'not interested' in bolstering the nation's defences and caring more about welfare. She also criticized Labour's energy policy for the North Sea as 'dangerous and irresponsible' and warned that plans to align the UK more closely with EU rules would create the 'worst of both worlds' and effectively make Britain a 'rule-taker'. The session, the first after a two-week parliamentary break, was dominated by the impact of the conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran. Starmer responded by insisting he would 'not yield' to pressure from figures like Donald Trump regarding the Iran war, fashioning his reply into a lengthy statement on the international situation. This tactic led to a remarkable intervention from Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who snapped and interrupted the Prime Minister to remind him that the session was for answering questions, not for delivering opposition-style tirades. 'Prime Minister, it's Prime Minister's Questions. We've got to concentrate,' Hoyle told a furious Starmer as the pair clashed. Despite the theatrical and often furious nature of the exchanges, one observer noted that Starmer ultimately 'made a reasonable fist of listening to Kemi Badenoch’s questions and giving equally well-rehearsed answers on defence spending.' The session highlighted the government's ongoing challenges in articulating its policy on key issues like national security and post-Brexit relations, while the opposition seized the opportunity to press its attacks on multiple fronts, rejecting the Prime Minister's calls for cross-party consensus.