Sunak will be pleased with his PMQs debut

Rishi Sunak vs Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions today was spicier than many had expected. Both men enjoyed themselves, and though the new Prime Minister has barely had any time to prepare, he was assured and fluent.

The session started with the Labour leader marking the appointment of the first Asian British Prime Minister, saying it was a 'significant moment in our national story'. Sunak thanked Starmer for those words, and said he looked forward to their 'serious and grown-up' exchanges in the future. Starmer's task today was to frame the third Conservative prime minister he's faced across the despatch box as being just like the rest, and not the breath of fresh air many Tories have been trying to suggest he is.

Starmer then asked Sunak whether Suella Braverman was right to leave the government just last week over a breach of security. He pressed the question repeatedly. Sunak insisted that the Home Secretary, who he re-appointed to the role yesterday, had 'made an error of judgement' but 'accepted her mistake'. Braverman nodded on the bench behind him with the air of someone who had just been handed an award, rather than recently booted out of government and then brought back in. Sunak then listed the policies Braverman would be focused on in contrast to the approach of the Labour party.

Starmer returned to the theme a third time by accusing the new Prime Minister of doing a 'grubby deal':

'We can all see what's happened here. He's so weak he's done a grubby deal trading national security because he was scared to lose another leadership election. There's a new Tory at the top but as always with them, party first, country second.' 

Sunak continued to contrast Labour's weaknesses against the approach the Tories were taking on immigration, disruptive protests and crime. He went on to remind MPs that just a few years ago Starmer and others were still supporting Jeremy Corbyn.

The Labour leader also attacked Sunak over his family's tax affairs, and demanded he 'put his money where his mouth is' and scrap non-dom statuses. The PM responded that there were going to be 'difficult decisions' this autumn, showing he understood the contrast Starmer was trying to build between a wealthy politician taking the decisions and the strained finances of those who would be most affected. He insisted that the government will always protect the most vulnerable.

That allowed Starmer to raise the video of Sunak boasting in the first leadership contest of this year that he had diverted money from 'deprived urban areas'. But Sunak had a really strong answer to this one (he has, after all, had quite a while and a second leadership contest to prepare it). He accused the Labour leader of rarely leaving London, adding: 

'If he does, he will know that there are deprived areas in our rural communities, in our coastal communities, and across the south.'

Starmer's best line of the session came later: Sunak 'is not on the side of working people. That’s why the only time he ran in a competitive election he got trounced by the former prime minister who herself got beaten by a lettuce.' 

But Sunak will have sat down feeling satisfied with those exchanges. He managed to please Tory backbenchers by making clear he was not in favour of lifting the ban on fracking – though it's clear that to attempt to do so would be idiotic given the fracking vote row that contributed to accelerating Liz Truss's departure. 

The PM took care to point out he had already called Nicola Sturgeon to ensure there was a 'constructive relationship' with the Scottish First Minister. This marked another contrast to Truss, who never managed a call and had claimed during the leadership campaign that Sturgeon was better ignored.

The session went well for both leaders. It was a good debut for Sunak, who gets a slightly longer honeymoon period than Truss purely by dint of not bringing immediate chaos into Westminster and the markets. But the medium-term fiscal plan comes on 17 November: from then on, the gloves will be off, and not just on the Labour benches.