‘A boring, dull, whiny wet sock!’: Starmer blasted at PMQs over defence spending
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 702 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Defence dominated a fiery return to PMQs as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch took on Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a war of words, seizing on criticism from former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general Lord Robertson over what he calls “complacency” on military spending.
Camilla and Jacob-Rees Mogg react to the PM being pressed on defence investment plans as he says his military advisers are wrong to call him complacent, all while the British Army has shrunk to its smallest size in centuries.
And an exclusive poll for The Telegraph suggests Labour could lose control of Wales for the first time since devolution, potentially falling to third place behind Plaid Cymru and Reform UK.
🚨 LIVE EVENT: The Daily T will be going on the road to London (April 27), Cardiff (April 28), Warwick (April 29) and Worthing (April 30) ahead of May’s critical local elections, where you'll have a chance to put your questions to Camilla and Tim.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.6 | Kirstama and Kemi Badock at war at PMQ's over defence spending. |
| 0:15.4 | Former Labour Defence Secretary Lord Robertson says the Prime Minister is showing corrosive complacency, while the British |
| 0:21.9 | army has shrunk to its smallest size in centuries. |
| 0:25.3 | Is Labour's failure to increase defence spending a betrayal of our troops? |
| 0:29.2 | While Labour faces a political earthquake, as polling for the Telegraph reveals that it is |
| 0:34.1 | set to lose control in Wales for the first time since devolution. |
| 0:38.5 | Welcome to The Daily Tea with me, Camilla Tominy. |
| 0:40.9 | And me, Jacob, Rhysmorg. |
| 0:52.7 | Jacob, before we start, the Daily Tea Road Show, you are now involved. |
| 0:57.4 | This is very exciting. |
| 0:59.0 | It's kind of you to invite me a visit to Warwick. |
| 1:01.0 | I haven't been to Warwick University for ages, but I went to speak there once before, I think, |
| 1:06.5 | in the midst of the Brexit campaign, that sort of time. |
| 1:08.9 | It'd be nice to go back there. |
| 1:09.8 | Well, we like seeing you on campus because sometimes you get barracked by socialists. It's going to be the socialist students versus the country squire. That's how we're going to position this. Well, the thing hecklers always forget is that the person there heckling has the floor. And so hecklers always, or almost always, help the speaker. Yes. And you love |
| 1:29.6 | a heckler. Let's be taking it on. Yeah, heckling's fun. So to remind everybody, Tim and I are going to be |
| 1:35.1 | in London on Monday the 27th where we're hopefully going to have a right ding-dong between right and left, |
| 1:41.4 | the details of which are to be announced because they're being finalised, but it's very exciting. |
| 1:45.5 | Then on the Tuesday, we're going to be in Cardiff, which looks to be on the verge of wiping labour from the map. |
| 1:53.0 | Then on the Wednesday, so that's the 29th, that's when you'll be in Warwick taking on the students, which would be great fun. |
| 2:00.2 | And then in Worthing on the 30th, |
... |
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