Keir Starmer accuses Boris Johnson of being 'too weak to lead' following Commons rebellion on Covid passes

After Mr Johnson faced a rebellion of one hundred of his own MPs on Covid passes last night, Sir Keir used his time at Prime Minister’s Questions this week to say that Mr Johnson is “too weak to lead” and asked him to take the Christmas break to take a “look in the mirror”.

The Labour leader said: “The British public are looking for a Prime Minister with the trust and the authority to lead Britain through the crisis. Instead we’re burdened with the worst possible Prime Minister at the worst possible time.”

Addressing Tory heckles, he said: “They’re shouting now, where were they in the lobby last night?

“His own MPs have had enough, they won’t defend him, they won’t turn up to support him and, if he proposes them, they won’t vote for basic public health measures.”

Sir Keir added: “The Prime Minister is so weak that without Labour votes last night, vital public health measures wouldn’t have got through.”

“We can’t go on with a Prime Minister who is too weak to lead,” he said.

“So will the Prime Minister take time this Christmas to look in the mirror and ask himself whether he has the trust and authority to lead this country?”

The scale of the rebellion – the biggest suffered by Mr Johnson – came as a surprise to the Tory leadership and followed a personal appeal by the Prime Minister to his MPs at a meeting just an hour before the vote.

Nearly a third of his MPs voted against the introduction of mandatory Covid passes in nightclubs and large venues, with many saying they were unhappy about the way Mr Johnson was leading the country and his party.

The unrest on the Tory benches could also make it politically harder for the Government to introduce new restrictions in England if the Omicron wave of coronavirus proves as dangerous as Mr Johnson’s scientific advisers fear.

Mr Johnson disagreed with the Labour leader, and told the Commons : “We won that vote last night with Conservative votes.

“I respect the feelings, the anxieties colleagues have – of course I do – and legitimate anxieties that colleagues have about restrictions on their liberty and the liberty of people.

“But I believe the approach we’re taking is balanced and proportionate and right for this country.”