Keir Starmer Mocks 'Donkey' Rishi Sunak Over Tory Christmas 'Meltdown'

Keir Starmer branded Rishi Sunak a “donkey” as he made fun of the ongoing civil war within the Tory party.

The Labour leader said the prime minister could play the role in a Conservative Christmas nativity play - although he said the party would struggle to find “three wise men”.

Starmer went on the offensive as he and Sunak exchanged jokes during the last PMQs of the year.

Referring to the ongoing Tory civil war over Rwanda, he said the government was in “meltdown” and voters were “paying the price”.

“Christmas is a time of peace on Earth and good will to all - has anyone told the Tory party?” Starmer said.

Sunak survived a high-stakes Commons vote on his Rwanda deportation bill last night, as right-wing Tory MPs decided to abstain rather than vote it down.

But while the result came as a relief for Downing Street, it sets up further clashes over the legislation in the New Year.

Starmer told Sunak: “He kicked the can down the road but in the last week his MPs have said of him ‘he’s not capable enough’, ‘he’s inexperienced’, ‘he’s arrogant’, ‘a really bad politician’.

“Apparently he’s holding a Christmas party next week. How’s the invite list looking?”

He added: “They’ve obviously found the donkey for their nativity. The search for three wise men might take a little longer.”

Starmer also accused the various factions of Tory MPs of “swanning around” Westminster “pretending to be members of the Mafia”.

That was a reference to them dubbing themselves “the five families”.

Sunak himself poked fun at the splits on his backbenches, telling the Commons: “Christmas is a time for families and under the Conservatives we have a record number of them.”