STV NewsBoris Johnson has been branded as Jabba the Hutt, despite thinking that he is Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Keir Starmer had suggested the Prime Minister “thinks he can perform Jedi mind tricks” when defending the Government’s record on the economy.
However, the “force just isn’t with him anymore”, the Labour leader told the Commons during PMQs.
Starmer laid on the Star Wars references as he asked Johnson why the UK is set for lower growth than every major economy except sanctions-hit Russia.
But the Prime Minister insisted the UK will have the “second fastest” growth this year.
And he attempted to switch focus onto the upcoming rail disruption, as he urged Starmer to end his “sphinx-like silence” about strikes by the RMT.
“He’s in government, he could do something to stop the strikes, but he hasn’t lifted a finger,” Starmer hit back.
“I don’t want the strikes to go ahead, but he does. He wants the country to grind to a halt so he can feed off the division.”
Starmer continued: “As for his boasting about the economy, he thinks he can perform Jedi mind tricks on the country – ‘these aren’t the droids you’re looking for, no rules were broken, the economy is booming’.
“The problem is, the force just isn’t with him anymore. He thinks he’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, the truth is he’s Jabba the Hutt.”
The Labour leader described Johnson as an “ostrich prime minister” as he pointed to the state of the economy.
“Last week, he stood there and boasted that we would continue to grow the economy,” he said.
“This week it turns out the economy shrank for the second month in a row.
“How does it help Britain to have an ostrich prime minister with his head in the sand?”
Johnson defended his government’s record and underlined investment made in the UK’s tech sector.
“There he goes again, running this country down,” the Prime Minister responded.
“We’ve got lower unemployment than France, Germany, Italy, Canada.”
Johnson continued: “He might like to know this, that just in the first five months of this year, this country has attracted I think £16bn of investment in its tech sector.
“He doesn’t like these European comparisons, let’s make it for him – three times as much as Germany, twice as much as France. He should be talking this country up, not running it down.”
Starmer brought up previous comments made by Johnson regarding business, as he asked why this was not being turned into economic policy.
“That’s the ostrich. He’s not just denying how bad things are, he’s actively making things worse,” the Labour leader said.
“We know what the Prime Minister says about British business in private, I think that’s pretty un-parliamentary.
“But when did ‘screwing business’ turn from a flippant comment into economic policy?”
Johnson pointed to action taken by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in helping to support business.
He responded: “I just reminded the House of what’s happening in tech week in this country, the massive investment that’s coming in.
“Helped, by the way, by this 130% super-deduction for business investment that the Chancellor has put on.
“Never forget that under Labour, taxes go up on businesses and on people.”
Starmer went on to read from what he said was a “long list” of what Conservative MPs think of the Prime Minister.
And he challenged them to admit as to who made the remarks that he read out.
He told opposition MPs: “They’re making a lot of noise now, but I’ve got a long list here of what his MPs really think of him – ‘dragging everyone down’.
“Who said that? Come on, who was it that said that? ‘Authority is destroyed’, come on hands up, which of you was it? Which of you? Come on. ‘Can’t win back trust’.
“Anybody owning up? You’re very quiet now. Hands? Hands?”
He added: “My personal favourite is this, this is a document circulated by his backbench in which they call him ‘the Conservative Corbyn’.
“Prime Minister, I don’t think that was intended as a compliment.”
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