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Louise Thomas
Editor
Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly referred to Rishi Sunak as prime minister at PMQs, in a sign the Labour leader is yet to fully embrace life on the other side of the Commons.
In a sombre session of prime minister’s questions, following the publication of the damning Grenfell report, Sir Keir appeared to forget on multiple occasions that the tables were turned in July’s general election.
Pressed by leader of the opposition Mr Sunak over the government’s decision to suspend some arms export licences to Israel, Sir Keir called his opposite number “prime minister” three times.
The first instance was when he was asked about the process behind the suspension of some export licences, to which Sir Keir said: “The prime minister knows the framework, they shout… they issued the guidance, they know what the test is, that test has been assessed, we have come to a conclusion and put that before the House of Commons to consider.”
He was again asked about the implications of the decision, again repeating that “the prime minister knows the legal framework”.
On the third occasion, Sir Keir appeared to catch himself, saying: “Having applied the law to the facts and come to a legal conclusion I don’t think the prime minister is inviting me to put that to one side… the leader of the opposition.”
Before the general election, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle made the same mistake several times, referring to Sir Keir as “prime minister”.
Labour won the 5 July general election with a landslide 412 seats, compared with the Conservatives’ 121.
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