Keir Starmer skewered Boris Johnson on the spear of Dominic Cummings’ £45K rise

Oonagh Keating. Updated December 17th, 2020

Although he has now been sacked after reportedly encouraging name-calling of the PM’s girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, news has leaked that Dominic Cummings got a substantial raise – despite the Durham debacle – in a year when money for public services was in very short supply.

PM's former aide Dominic Cummings got £45,000 pay rise https://t.co/TN2bJDHEzz

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) December 15, 2020

The revelation formed a sizeable chunk of the ammunition used by Keir Starmer against Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions.

Car crash #PMQs. Johnson searched his brain for any of his prepared answers that may fit the curve ball thrown to him by Starmer, and found none. It would be comical if it weren't killing thousands of people. pic.twitter.com/0YbJELhkUj

— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) December 16, 2020

Johnson’s silence on the matter spoke volumes.

Johnson can handle a room full of after-dinner drunks when he has control of the mic. He can handle a newspaper column, when his is the only voice readers can hear. But he cannot handle hard questions, as Keir Starmer demonstrates again and again. https://t.co/j2VZ3Az2Dh

— Nick Cohen (@NickCohen4) December 16, 2020

Twitter was no more impressed by the news than the Leader of the Opposition had been.

can't believe we didn't realise at the time that this box was stuffed full of wads of cash pic.twitter.com/3Yzi7ZW0Bx

— dave ❄️ 🥕 🧻 (@davemacladd) December 16, 2020

Maybe Cummings could use the £35k pay rise he was given whilst in No.10 to pay off part of the £50k of Council Tax he never paid, his new house having been built without planning permission and never declared to the Council.

— Jessica Simor QC (@JMPSimor) December 15, 2020

Boris Johnson is telling care workers to survive on less than the living wage. He's freezing pay for our NHS staff.

Dominic Cummings takes a 500 mile cross country eye test, destroys public trust in lockdown measures, the PM stands by him and gives him a 50 grand pay rise #PMQs

— 🌈 Angela Rayner 🌈 (@AngelaRayner) December 16, 2020

you’ll be amazed to learn that Keir Starmer just asked about Dominic Cummings’ £40k pay rise and Boris Johnson dodged the question altogether #pmqs

— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) December 16, 2020

I couldn't argue with his logic – he said it didn't make sense for him to earn less than me when he was my boss. https://t.co/BNxRMf5g66

— Parody Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson_MP) December 16, 2020

WHAT THERE WASN'T MONEY FOR:
Feeding hungry kids
Proper pay for nurses/care workers
Pay rise for public sector workers
Support for low paid
Support for businesses in the North
Decent level of sick pay

WHAT THERE WAS MONEY FOR:
Pay rise for Cummingshttps://t.co/63PWNOxKgV

— David Schneider (@davidschneider) December 15, 2020

to be fair Dominic Cummings could earn far more outside of government, for example by winning a PPE contract

— Henry Mance (@henrymance) December 15, 2020

A £45k pay rise for Dominic Cummings!? DO MY EYES DECEIVE ME?? Only one way to find out… https://t.co/AJ6yjetn1Q

— Dan Rebellato (@DanRebellato) December 16, 2020

Shambles. As per. https://t.co/cm8TBe7pKY

— Sue Perkins (@sueperkins) December 16, 2020

The very funny and astute @davemacladd approved of the PMQs verbal thrashing, but spotted a flaw in the tactic.

Keir Starmer's strategy to review all Boris Johnson's mistakes at #pmqs is all well and good but I fear he might need 56,498 questions for that rather than 6

— dave ❄️ 🥕 🧻 (@davemacladd) December 16, 2020

Source BBC News Image Screengrab, Screengrab