Keir Starmer savagely mocks Kemi Badenoch's leadership in tense PMQs clash

Keir Starmer has brutally mocked Kemi Badenoch's stumbling leadership of the Tories as the pair clashed at PMQs today.

The PM said no Tory MP believed the Conservative chief would lead them into the next general election as she struggles to turn around the party's dire ratings. He savaged Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, who was runner up in the Tory leadership race, after a leaked recording revealed he may attempt to join forces with Reform.

In a fiery PMQs exchange, Mr Starmer hit back at Ms Badenoch after she said Labour MPs were using a WhatsApp group to criticise the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of a woman. The PM said: "I think the WhatsApp group she should be worried about is the one of the Shadow Justice Secretary.

"The mask has slipped just one week before the (local) elections, because the Shadow Justice Secretary - who is not here - the man who's doing everything he can to replace her, the man that most of them want as leader of their party - has admitted that Reform and the Tories are working together.

"He said 'I want this fight to be united'; he's 'determined to bring this coalition together' one way or another. Well I think we know what that means. Every Tory voter is appalled at the thought of paying for the NHS reform. Every Reform voter hated what the Tories did the last 14 years. They're not Conservatives, they're a con.

It comes after a recorded was leaked to Sky News in which Mr Jenrick told young Tories at the UCL Conservative Association last month that he would try "one way or another" to make sure the Conservatives and Reform do not compete next time around.

Ms Badenoch tried to steer the conversation onto last week's Supreme Court ruling which said sex in the equality act refers to "biological sex". She accused the PM of being "clearly so uncomfortable talking about this subject".

She added: "This is a question about moral courage, about doing the right thing even when it is difficult. And the truth is, he doesn't have the balls. The Prime Minister only tells people what they want to hear."

Mr Starmer hit back: "The truth is, it doesn't really matter what the Leader of the Opposition says because nobody believes - none of them (Tories) - she's going to lead them into a next election anyway.

"It's going to be the Shadow Justice Secretary - he's away plotting that's why he's not here today - and the Member for Clacton fighting over the bones of the Tory party... the Member for Clacton is going to do what he always does - eat the Tory party for breakfast."