PMQs live: Boris Johnson refuses to apologise to archbishop of Canterbury after criticising his stance on Rwanda policy

It must be confusing being a Conservative MP at times. Are you supposed to hate the BBC or not? Earlier this year, on day one of what was dubbed “Operation Red Meat”, the No 10 operation to shore up Boris Johnson’s position with a rightwing policy offer for Tory MPs, Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, said the BBC licence fee was definitely going. A day later she had to soften her position somewhat, after the Treasury insisted the future of the licence fee was just being reviewed.

In part, this might be an indication of how the cerebral cortex of the Conservative party has enough nous to realise that the attack lines that play well with the headline writers for rightwing newspapers are not always popular with the public. The BBC has been widely praised for its coverage of the Ukraine war, and there are no votes to be gained in slagging it off on this. But it also seems that Johnson’s views have been misrepresented by his old paper.

This explains why Johnson was so indignant - and why he came out with a clear denial. Starmer said to him: The prime minister also accused the BBC of not being critical enough of Putin. Would the prime minister have the guts to say that to the face of [BBC reporters] Clive Myrie, Lyse Doucet and Steve Rosenberg, who have all risked their lives day in, day out on the frontline in Russia and Ukraine uncovering Putin’s barbarism?I said nothing of the kind and I have the highest admiration as a former journalist for what journalists do. I think they do an outstanding job.

Some people will have watched and concluded that Johnson was slandered. But - as has sadly been explained here before - the effectiveness of an attack line is not always related to its accuracy, and Starmer probably won this particular exchange on points. Starmer was even more effective with this early Partygate questions, and he did help to establish that, although Johnson may deny accusing the BBC of being pro-Putin, he is not ashamed of saying that about the Church of England.

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