‘They’re at each other’s throats – they are the Phil and Holly of British politics!’ Good line. ‘It’s all lovey-dovey on the surface, they turn it on for the cameras, but as soon as they’re off, it’s a different story,’ he laughed. Rayner accused the Tories of being in disarray, Dowden made a jibe about Ange’s rocky relationship with Starmer. I think she was relieved he didn’t say Rachel Reeves. 'In his debut at PMQs, the unfancied Oliver Dowden managed to get the better of Angela Rayner' ‘I’m surprised that the Lib Dem leader isn’t taking questions today,’ he joked. Rayner’s opening salvo had allowed him to use his own pre-baked gag about how he’d expected to come face-to-face with Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘preferred’ choice for deputy leader. She welcomed her new jousting partner (‘the third I’ve faced in three years!’) and expressed relief that the PM had ‘finally got a working-class friend.’ĭirector’s note: Despite his posh prefect manner, Dowden was educated at a lowly comprehensive. That’s the thing about Rayner – for the all the ‘Tory scum’ baiting, her snarl is far worse than her snap. She looked ready to wolf him down all in one go.Įarly exchanges between the pair were refreshingly jovial. Ms Rayner was already seated, examining her opponent the way a student eyes up a foaming tankard of snakebite. Mr Dowden was in harness because the Prime Minister is visiting Japan on a G7 beano, which was probably a good thing - Sunak v Starmer bouts have become awfully samey lately.Īs the deputy PM strode into the chamber bang on midday, his puffed-out tummy made his jacket buttons squeak for mercy. She has certainly enjoyed better days at the dispatch box. Rayner, meanwhile, appeared to have developed a nasty case of Starmer-itis, veering off on bizarre tangents which left MPs scratching their heads in bewilderment. But decent.ĭeputy Labour leader Angela Rayner quizzes Mr Dowden

His voice is too drippy and his comic timing is clunkier than a clapped-out Austin Montego. Instead, Mr Dowden surprised everyone with a decent performance.

Minnie the Minx duffs up Walter the Softy.

And Olive – as he is affectionately known by his Downing Street colleagues – has always come across as such a wet piece of haddock that many expected one swing of Rayner’s clodhoppers to leave him smeared him against the chamber wall. In his debut at PMQs, the unfancied Oliver Dowden managed to get the better of Angela Rayner.Īs debaters go, Ange has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Though today’s PMQs wasn’t quite the story of David and Goliath, it was still a turn-up for the books. (Jocky used to neck five pints before a match to steady his nerves. Who can forget when James ‘Buster’ Douglas put Mike Tyson flat on his backside that fateful night in Tokyo? Or when Fife’s finest, Jocky Wilson, demolished John ‘Stoneface’ Lowe on the way to his first world darts championship in 1982. HISTORY has a habit of throwing up shock victories for the underdog.

In The Fallout by Adam Wilson