Badenoch sparks row with attack on Labour MPs after Starmer exit

Kemi Badenoch used the first Prime Minister’s Questions since Sir Keir Starmer said he would stand down as Labour leader to hammer Labour MPs with some of her sharpest language yet, then refused to apologise after the House of Commons session descended into a row over tone and respect.

In the Commons Chamber on Wednesday, 24 June 2026, Badenoch said Labour MPs were cheering on Starmer despite there being “400 knives stuck in his back”. She called them “traitors and deserters”, described Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson as a “spiteful class warrior”, and accused Labour MPs of abandoning Starmer for a “pair of eyelashes and a black t-shirt”, a reference widely understood to mean Andy Burnham, the Manchester mayor and the overwhelming favourite in Labour leadership speculation.

Badenoch also went after senior ministers in Starmer’s cabinet, accusing Chancellor Rachel Reeves of “killing jobs” and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband of “killing industry”. The attack landed in a chamber already tense over Starmer’s resignation announcement on Monday, 22 June 2026, and over what his departure means for the Labour Party’s grip on its own parliamentary ranks.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle interrupted to urge “a little bit more decorum and respect” and later reminded MPs to think carefully about the language they use, warning that constituents may mirror it outside Parliament. His intervention underscored how quickly the exchange moved beyond routine partisan barbs and into a dispute about the standards of debate in Westminster.

Badenoch did not retreat after the session. A Conservative spokesman said she would “absolutely not” apologise, signalling that the attack was intentional rather than impulsive. After PMQs, Badenoch and Phillipson exchanged heated words in the division lobbies, with Phillipson later posting on social media that Badenoch had “lost her head at PMQs” and accusing her of comparing her to a Gestapo officer.

The clash offered an early glimpse of how the opposition intends to exploit Labour’s leadership uncertainty. With Starmer out of the line of fire and Andy Burnham looming over the succession contest, Badenoch chose confrontation, not restraint, and made the tone of Westminster part of the political fight itself.