James O’Brien calls Boris Johnson comments ‘most remarkable thing ever heard in the Commons’

James O'Brien described Boris Johnson's PMQs performance as the most 'remarkable thing' he'd ever heard; LBC - Credit: Archant

Radio presenter James O’Brien says Boris Johnson’s praise for his approach to the coronavirus is the most remarkable thing he has ever heard in the Commons.

Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer met for another round of PMQs on Wednesday where they debated the government’s coronavirus response and return-to-school plans.

During the debate, Johnson accused the opposition leader of issuing ‘inconsistent’ messages over when he thought schools should reopen, an allegation the opposition thoroughly denied.

Outraged by the comments, O’Brien began listing times Johnson backtracked on commitments or had his leadership questioned.

‘This is the same man that wrote two columns about Brexit, one saying remain, one saying leave…literally wrote two columns in the same weekend and only decided at the last minute based, we now know, entirely on his own self-interest which one he would send to the Daily Telegraph,’ he said.

He then took aim at Johnson’s description of America as the ‘bastion of piece’. ‘This is an America where in the last week peaceful protesters have been gassed upon the orders of the president. Of course the question was about the qualities of the president which he has previously referred to in the past.

‘Even that absolute festival of waffle and bloviation, even he couldn’t come up with a quality of Donald Trump’s which could be described as admirable,’ the host added.

Johnson described Trump’s best quality as being the ‘president of the United States’ when he was asked for his thoughts on the president’s qualities from SNP MP Kisty Blackman.

Lambasting Johnson, O’Brien said: ‘He’s trying to accuse Keir Starmer by dint of being a professional lawyer who operated within the parameters of the professional legal system of somehow being unreliable or wavering.’

He then called the prime minister’s self-praising comments the most ‘remarkable thing’ he had ever heard in the Commons.

‘The man who has presided over countless avoidable deaths and who has so much blood on his hands that even Pontius Pilate’s launderers wouldn’t be able to help him, was trying to compliment himself for the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis,’ he said.

‘We are so far into the upside down now that frankly I’m amazed anybody can remember what day it is. That’s just three bits of it… That was breathtaking.’