Rishi Sunak’s PMQs maths joke backfires as he gets Keir Starmer’s age wrong

Sir Keir Starmer had to correct the Prime Minister about his age
Miriam Burrell19 July 2023
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Rishi Sunak was left embarrased after taking a jibe at the Labour leader’s maths only to get his age wrong, leaving Labour MPs in the House of Commons in fits of laughter.

During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday Sir Keir Starmer told Mr Sunak that Labour’s NHS workforce plan is fully funded by scrapping the “non-dom status that he so adores”.

“Non-dom” is short for non-domiciled individual and is a British tax status that allows a person who was born in another country, or if their parent is from another country, to pay tax in the UK only on their UK income. Mr Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, an Indian citizen, has non-dom status but, after a furore, volunteered to pay UK income tax on her worldwide income, despite not being required by law to do so.

“You know the one, the non-dom tax thing as he calls it that allows some of the wealthiest people in the country to avoid paying tax here”, Mr Starmer said.

“Is that loophole so important to him that he’d rather have billions in unfunded promises then simply making billionaires pay what they owe?”

The Prime Minister replied: “The same policy that I think has paid for five different things at this point. Everybody knows I’m a fan of doing maths to 18 but the honourable gentleman makes very a strong case for doing maths all the way to 61.”

His joke received laughs and jeers from Tory MPs but it backfired, with Mr Starmer pointing out that he was incorrect about his age.

Mr Starmer replied: “If he’s so good at maths, he’d know I’m 60 not 61” which was met with laughter from the Labour benches.

Mr Starmer and Mr Sunak clashed over the economy and NHS staff shortages and wait times, with Mr Sunak accusing Labour of going for “superficial headlines” while the Government planned an “actual reform” of the health system.

Mr Sunak added: “Not only is the NHS long-term workforce plan fully funded, it was welcomed by not one, not two, but by 43 different NHS stakeholders.”

The Prime Minister also noted NHS waiting times in England are “the best in two years” whereas NHS waiting times in Wales are the “worst”.

But Mr Starmer replied: “7.2 million currently on the waiting list. Prime Minister, that’s the highest it’s ever been. It means that since he’s stepped foot into Downing Street 260,000 have been waiting in daily agony for things like hip and knee replacements while he boasts.

“Has he figured out why after nine months, dozens of gimmicks, umpteen broken promises, his Government is failing more patients than ever before?”

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