Revealed
KEIR LOSES IT
Boris Johnson & Sir Keir Starmer in fiery Commons ‘bust-up’ as Labour leader ‘has a meltdown’ after PMQs jabs clash
SIR Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson had a heated exchange after PMQs, The Sun can reveal.
The livid Labour leader confronted the PM as the pair left the Commons chamber after their weekly bout, with eyewitnesses claiming Sir Keir “had a bit of a meltdown”.
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One MP who witnessed the exchange said: "He was clearly very rattled and kept saying to the PM 'it's not true, it's not true'".
Another claimed Sir Keir was "almost puce" and "wagged his finger aggressively" at Mr Johnson.
It's understood Sir Keir was enraged after the PM highlighted the opposition boss's previous support for staying in the European Medicines Agency.
Britain deliberately broke away from the European Medicines Agency control for vaccine approval in October - meaning the UK could rubber stamp the jabs quicker - Matt Hancock claimed last year.
But the bloc decided to take an EU-wide approach to getting the jabs, which took longer and meant Brussels is far behind the UK's rollout of the vaccine.
Staying in the EU's agency would have likely put Britain back months.
Brussels has been desperately trying to claw vaccines supplies to the bloc and has got into a nasty spat with both Britain and the drugs firm AstraZeneca over supplies.
The pair had the exchange of words just by the voting lobbies at the entrance to the House of Commons earlier this afternoon.
Another MP said: "As I walked past they were in a heated discussion about what had just happened by the entrance to the Aye lobby."
Another eyewitness told The Sun: "Starmer kept claiming wanting to join the EMA was 'nothing to do with the vaccine', and the PM kept saying 'check the record, you said it.'"
A third MP added: "Keir fronted up to the PM after PMQs in the entrance to the Chamber - no mask, not socially distanced either, to say that the PM was wrong about the EMA.
"The PM tried to close it down by saying it’s on the record."
They said around a dozen MPs gathered around, with one Tory wading in to prove the Labour leader had made the remarks.
One eyewitness even claimed Sir Keir was so angry that he eventually had to be led away by Labour whip Chris Mathieson, but he disputed that.
Mr Matieson said: "There was a brief chat and then Keir and I left together. Nothing more to it than that.”
However Tory MP Mark Francois disputed the "reasonable conversation claim."
He told The Sun: "As I was walking out of the chamber, I saw Sir Keir and PM standing near the entrance to the aye lobby."
"He was puce with anger, and wagging his finger aggressively at the PM, who was telling him to check the record."
During the exchange it is claimed Sir Keir had admitted that he previously wanted to Brexit Britain to joined the EU's medical agency, but that had nothing do with the vaccine.
Moments earlier he had accused the PM of being dishonest in the House of Commons - by claiming he had wanted to joined the EMA.
Sir Keir said: “The Prime Minister knows I have never said that, from this Despatch Box or anywhere else, but the truth escapes him.”
But official parliamentary records from January 2017 show Sir Keir DID say the UK should stay in the EMA.
And video shows he said in the House of Commons in January 2017: "Why would we want to be outside the European Medicines Agency, which ensures that all medicines in the EU market are safe and effective?"
In another exchange he said: "If you let me give three, without the details The European Aviation Safety Agency, The European Medicines Agency.. and of course Europol which I worked with for many years...
"These are the bits of the EU which we should be seeking to retain, not to throw away."
Tonight he finally backed down and admitted he was wrong - and he had made such comments in the past.
A spokeswoman for Sir Keir said: "On a number of occasions the Prime Minister has wrongly claimed that Labour wanted to join the EU's vaccine programme. That is inaccurate and the claim has been found to be untrue.
"This afternoon during Prime Minister's Questions, Keir misheard the Prime Minister and assumed he was making the same false accusation again.
"Keir accepts that, on this occasion, the Prime Minister was referring to old comments about the European Medicines Agency and Keir admits he was wrong and made a mistake in his response.
"It's not Labour policy to join either the European Medicines Agency or the EU vaccine programme. We have never called for the UK to be in the EU vaccine programme. We remain committed to working with the Government to ensure we can be the first in the world to roll out the vaccine."
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Sir Keir’s spokesman said he was “not aware of the incident" but a Labour source attempted to play it down. saying it was "a perfectly reasonable conversation."
Downing Street have been approached for comment.
During a briefing for Westminster journalists the Prime Minister's press secretary said she was not in a position to confirm or deny the incident as she had not seen the PM since.
The bust up came following a tetchy PMQs at which the pair traded barbs over the UK's jabs rollout.
Labour's leader got himself into hot water by claiming he had never called for Britain to stay in the EU's medicines agency.
The PM quoted past remarks Sir Keir had made questioning why the UK was leaving the body.
He said: "If we had listened to [Sir Keir] we would still be at the starting blocks because he wanted to stay in the European Medicines Agency and said so four times from that despatch box.
But in ill-tempered scenes the Labour leader responded: "Complete nonsense. Don't let the truth get in the way of a pre-prepared gag.
"The Prime Minister knows I've never said that, from this despatch box or anywhere else, the truth escapes him."
Boris was caught pulling faces and puffed his cheeks in response to the answer.
Tory MP Mark Francois later raised a point of order in a bid to correct the record and highlight the Labour leader's previous remarks.
The row came after the pair also clashed over whether the PM had ignored advice from scientists to shut Britain's borders.
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Sir Keir Starmer to PM: 'Why would we want to be outside the European Medicines Agency?'
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