Tory leader takes aim at PM and Chancellor over her 'getting ready for selfie' with Burnham

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google

The Conservative leader hit out at Sir Keir Starmer during the first Prime Minister’s Questions since he announced his resignation, and questioned by Rachel Reeves did not come to Downing Street to watch his speech on Monday.

Mrs Badenoch said: "The Prime Minister gave her the second most important job in Britain, she was the first female chancellor, she lives next door to him, but wouldn’t even come out to stand by him during his resignation speech.

"She was too busy getting ready for a selfie with the new leader. Does the Prime Minister feel let down by his Chancellor?"

Read more: Government to begin prepping Burnham for No10 after Starmer's resignation clears path to leadership

Read more: Kemi Badenoch demands a stop to noisy Downing Street protests branding them a 'national embarrassment'

Andy Burnhan, widely tipped to become the next Prime Minister, arrived in London on Monday after announcing that he would be putting himself forward following Sir Keir's resignation.

He was also pictured taking a selfie with all Labour MPs in Westminster, which Mrs Badenoch was referring to during her comments.

But defending Ms Reeves, Sir Keir replied: "This is the Chancellor who ended austerity, inflicted on our country for 14 long years.

"This is the Chancellor who got the economy growing, [Badenoch] doesn’t normally want to talk about the economy that’s because in the first quarter of this year the UK had the fastest growing economy in the G7.

"Our growth was upgraded by the IMF and OECD, last week unemployment was down, investment has got better, that’s because with this chancellor we have the right economic plan and we can weather the global storms in the war that she wanted to jump into."

Mrs Badenoch also took aim at Ms Reeves for not providing funding for the defence investment plan (Dip) and suggested Sir Keir "wouldn’t be in this mess if his Chancellor had found money for the defence investment plan."

The Tory leader had earlier asked what had changed from the Prime Minister previously saying the government was properly funding defence.

Sir Keir replied that the Government was spending £270 billion on defence across the parliament, the "biggest boost to defence spending since the 1980s".

The Dip has proved a controversial talking point among ministers in recent weeks with pressure ramping up on Sir Keir to publish the plan.

But delays over releasing it sparked the resignation of John Healey as defence secretary earlier this month.

Mr Healey quit because the Dip was only due to provide £13.5 billion extra investment in defence, far short of the £28 billion over four years which officials had said was necessary.

Mr Burnham’s camp and allies of Mr Healey have since urged the Prime Minister against publishing the plan until his successor is in place.

The new MP for Makerfield has told allies that he plans to increase defence spending when he is in office, and has promised to give the Ministry of Defence more than the £13.5 billion promised by the outgoing Prime Minister, according to The Telegraph.