Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer can be good for each other – The Yorkshire Post says

Boris Johnson beame particularly animated at Prime Minister's Questions.Boris Johnson beame particularly animated at Prime Minister's Questions.
Boris Johnson beame particularly animated at Prime Minister's Questions.
THERE was a seminal moment at Prime Minister’s Questions this week where Boris Johnson became particularly animated during his exchanges with Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, for the first time since the lockdown.

Supporters said that Mr Johnson was expressing irritation at a critical line of questioning. Opponents ventured that his record on Covid-19 was not standing up to scrutiny.

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But both verdicts miss a more fundamental point as the national unity which did exist over coronavirus fragments and turns into the type of hostile recrimination that came to define Brexit.

And that is the emergence of new rules of political engagement after the Jeremy Corbyn years in which Ministers did become guilty of complacency.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions.

This cannot be said about Sir Keir’s new-look team which has shown a grasp for policy detail rarely demonstrated by the previous Shadow Cabinet.

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Yet they are also challenges. They will, in time, have to move on from the politics of hindsight to the new economic reality facing the country and specify their own priorities.

In turn, Mr Johnson and his top team should be relishing the challenge rather than becoming fearful of PMQs and other Parliamentary inquisitions.

Effective oppositions have, in the past, brought out the best in governments and it can happen again if Mr Johnson is so minded and also able some humility when mistakes do occur – an inevitable consequence of dealing with a global pandemic like this.

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But it would help to signal the return of a more mature political debate – one that has been sadly lacking in recent times.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

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And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor

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