Rayner says Dowden needs to ‘go back to school’ over ‘dire’ PMQs punchlines

Angela Rayner urged deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden to “go back to school” and improve his “dire” PMQs “punchlines” as the pair clashed in the House of Commons on Wednesday 7 June.

The duo stood in for Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer and exchanged barbs at the Despatch box, first over the Covid inquiry, before moving on to schooling issues.

“For the last couple of years, he’s been trying to prep prime ministers for this, but these punchlines are dire,” Ms Rayner said of Mr Dowden’s performance.

“He really needs to go back to school himself.”