Watch the moment Keir Starmer confronts Speaker after being handed PMQs dressing down

Georgia Pearce
Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:01:31 +0000

Sir Keir Starmer has been caught in a heated exchange with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle following Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions after being rebuked for failing to address questions directly.

Footage from the House of Commons captured the Prime Minister approaching Sir Lindsay at the conclusion of the session, where he was seen striking his fist against the Speaker's chair during their confrontation.

The clash followed Sir Lindsay's intervention during PMQs, with Sir Keir being told: "It is Prime Minister's Questions. We have got to concentrate."

The Speaker had repeatedly called out Sir Keir for straying from the topics raised by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

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The Speaker's office confirmed last night that the post-session exchange centred on the Prime Minister's tendency to avoid answering questions put to him.

A spokeswoman for Sir Lindsay stated: "Answers should be confined to the points contained in the question."

She added: "Every so often, the Speaker has to remind Prime Ministers and Ministers of the rules of engagement in the Chamber."

Crucially, the spokeswoman revealed that this was not an isolated intervention, noting: "The Speaker has made this point to officials at No 10 on several occasions recently as well."

Conservative MPs have grown increasingly frustrated in recent weeks, repeatedly gesturing towards the Speaker to demand he intervene during what they view as evasive responses from the Prime Minister.

Sir Keir has faced particular criticism for using questions about the Iran crisis to attack Mrs Badenoch over her initial support for American military strikes, rather than addressing the substance of her queries.

During Wednesday's session, when pressed on the publication date for his Defence Investment Plan, the Prime Minister instead accused the Tory leader of performing the "mother of all U-turns."

He told MPs: "I've set out my position. The Defence Investment Plan is the first line by line review of defence budgets for 18 years. She talks about talking, if you're going to support and make your country safe, you have to get the right calls on the big issues.

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"She called for us to jump into the war. They could pretend otherwise. I remember walking in, standing here for the first time saying we would not get drawn into the war, we would not join the offensive, and they all shouted, 'shame'."

Sir Keir continued: "They remember it. I remember it. They're just embarrassed by it now. A week later, when she realised she'd made a massive error of judgement, she attempted the mother of you all U-turns. That didn't work.

"So this weekend she said 'when I said we should jump into the war, what she meant was she was talking about verbal support'."

Mrs Badenoch also quizzed the Prime Minister on whether he would follow Lord George Robertson's advice on defence spending.

However, Sir Keir took aim at Tory spending, replying: "We are reforming welfare and spending more on defence. They did neither.

"The welfare bill rose by £88billion on their watch, it soared by £33billion under the shadow chancellor’s watch.

"We’re fixing it, what did they do, they voted against it, they voted to keep the broken system.

"So taking advice from the party opposite on reforming welfare and defence spending is like asking Liz Truss how to keep your mortgage down."