London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Boris Johnson hits back at critics over social care at stormy PMQs

Boris Johnson hits back at critics over social care at stormy PMQs

Boris Johnson batted away opposition calls for him to stand down and defended himself against accusations of "broken promises" at PMQs.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer challenged the PM on social care funding, rail investment and tax.

Picking up on reports of Tory disquiet after the PM's chaotic speech to business leaders, he asked: "Is everything OK, prime minister?"

The PM said the government was "delivering for...working people".

The Conservative benches were packed for the exchanges, in contrast to last week's session.

"I see they have turned up this week prime minister," said Sir Keir, prompting uproar on all sides and an intervention from Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who ordered MPs to calm down.

Several MPs have told the BBC that they were urged by party managers, via text or phone call, to attend Prime Minister's Questions to support Mr Johnson.

Sir Keir repeatedly claimed the government's plans for social care funding broke a Conservative manifesto pledge that nobody would have to sell their home to pay for care.

"He's picked the pockets of working people to protect the estates of the wealthiest," said the Labour leader, adding: "How could he have devised a working class dementia tax?"

Mr Johnson said homes will not be included in the cap on costs, adding that Labour did not have a plan to solve the problem.

The prime minister said the government's "huge investment" in health and social care meant people will be able to insure themselves against the "catastrophic cost" of suffering from diseases such as dementia.

Sir Keir also accused Mr Johnson of breaking a promise not to raise taxes - and to deliver a "rail revolution" in the North of England, despite now cancelling the northern leg of HS2.

"Who knows if he'll make it to the next election, but if he does, how can he expect anyone to take his promises seriously?," asked the Labour leader.

Mr Johnson insisted there would be a rail revolution, and claimed the government was spending £96bn on upgrading links.

And he said Sir Keir had campaigned against HS2 - which runs through his Holborn and St Pancras constituency - adding that he had backed the new high speed rail link even though it affected his own constituents, because it was in the national interest.

"How can they trust that man?" he asked.

Johnson not yet derailed

Talk of ousting the PM seems fanciful. He has a track record of bouncing back from adversity.

But it is worth noting that loud cheers from a leader's own side does not mean that underlying concerns have evaporated.

The former Conservative leader, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, was greeted by regular, co-ordinated standing ovations at his party conference, but that didn't prevent MPs quietly but definitively submitting letters of no confidence.

The mood at the moment though seems to be for the current Conservative leader to get a grip rather than to get out.

While Mr Johnson was on the back foot at PMQs, he nonetheless managed to step up attacks on the Labour leader too - the most effective of which was to suggest that HS2 would never have been built at all if Sir Keir Starmer had got his way.

Boris Johnson's premiership has looked juddery recently, but hasn't yet been derailed.

The SNP's Westminster Leader, Ian Blackford, also seized on reports of Tory disquiet with the PM's recent performance, accusing him of "floundering in failure" and asking him if he had "considered calling it a day".

"In the real world, people are suffering a Tory cost of living crisis, Brexit is hitting the economy hard, but the prime minister can't even give a coherent speech to business leaders," he added.

He asked why Mr Johnson was "clinging on when he quite clearly isn't up to the job".

The prime minister said the British public wanted to hear less about politics and more about what the government is doing "for the people of Scotland".

Earlier, deputy PM Dominic Raab praised Mr Johnson's "ebullient, bouncy, optimistic, Tiggerish character", saying it "livens up" his speeches.

He said there was a "steeliness" to the prime minister, adding: "We work as a team", and he dismissed the criticism as Westminster "tittle tattle".

Mr Johnson appeared before the CBI conference earlier this week to make his pitch for a "green industrial revolution" to business, including support for electric cars, investing in wind power and the government's integrated rail plan.

But it drew more negative attention after his impression of a car and his personal anecdote from a trip to Peppa Pig World.

"I was a bit hazy about what I would find at Peppa Pig World, but I loved it," he told the conference. "Peppa Pig World is very much my kind of place.

"It has very safe streets, discipline in schools, a heavy emphasis on mass transit systems I noticed, even if they are a bit stereotypical about Daddy Pig."

Asked after the speech, "is everything OK?", Mr Johnson said he thought people had "got the vast majority of the points" he wanted to make and that the speech "went over well".

It comes after a few weeks of turbulence at Westminster.

The PM backed attempts to overhaul the standards system for MPs' conduct, blocking the suspension of Tory MP Owen Paterson - who had been found to have broken lobbying rules.

No 10 performed a U-turn on the move following a furious backlash from MPs, including some Conservatives.

But the fall-out led to accusations about sleaze, and wider questions about MPs' second jobs.

The PM came under further pressure this week over the cost cap element of his social care plan, which charities warned could unfairly hit people with fewer assets.

MPs backed the proposals, but it was only a narrow victory for Mr Johnson thanks to a significant Tory rebellion.


PMQs: Sir Keir Starmer claims the PM has devised a "working class dementia tax" to pay for health and social care costs



Watch: The prime minister is asked if he's OK after talking about Peppa Pig in a speech to business leaders


Justice Secretary Dominic Raab: 'The prime minister is a Tiggerish character'



Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×