The SNP’s Stephen Flynn used his question at PMQs to dig at Rayner over Labour’s USA campaining trip:

“In today’s spirit of cross party working, will the Deputy Prime Minister join me in applauding the brave Labour staff members who’ve travelled across the Atlantic to campaign against Donald Trump?”

In response Rayner issued the Labour line verbatim: “People in their own time often go and campaign and that’s what we’ve seen. It happens in all political parties – people go and campaign and they do what they want to do in their own time with their own money.“ While housed by Dems…

Overseas Territories minister Stephen Doughty was asked in an Urgent Question to make a statement on the Rwanda-style deal agreed between the UK and Mauritius to transport any small boat migrants who turn there to St Helena. Or, at least, until Starmer gives that away too…

Doughty made pains to say it was a “contingency” until Mauritius takes over responsibility for dealing with migrants. At which point Labour ceases to care…

“We are hugely grateful to the St. Helena government for their assistance… the UK government has agreed to provide one-off funding of £6.65 million to St. Helena to improve health and education outcomes and upgrade government infrastructure.”

The St. Helena government will be happy with that gratuitious funding. Edward Leigh later asked Doughty the obvious question: Why can’t we deport people who turn up here to St Helena? No answer to that one…

Starmer just can’t get out of the habit. He’s given Sunak his old job back at PMQs…

Maybe Starmer wants to forget the last 100 days ever happened. It was a dour job otherwise as Sunak targeted Labour’s policy on China without scoring easy hits on taxes and freebies. Starmer batted those jabs away…

Questions over Lammy’s Chagos statement are raging on in the Commons. Tom Tugendhat has ripped into the Foreign Secretary, and Jenrick has been on the offensive too:

“We’ve just handed sovereign British territory to a small island nation which is an ally of China and we are paying for the privilege, all so that the Foreign Secretary can feel good about himself at his next North London dinner party. Whose interests does he think he serves: those of the global diplomatic elite or those of the British people and our national interest?”

Lammy naturally dodged in response. No word from Kemi so far. Cleverly left the Chamber before the statement…

The Commons has returned now that the three-week conference recess is over. Starmer is up to talk about his recent trips abroad and the Middle East one year on from Hamas’ attack on Israel.

97 hostages still remain in Hamas’ tunnels.

This is all going very well. A prophetic PMQs showed us that Keir Starmer’s government really is going to change Britain in ways unimaginable to us now.

But first, the question emerged from the session – how prime ministerial is the Prime Minister? Let’s leave aside the way he twice called Rishi Sunak “Prime Minister” – that’s a mistake anyone can make (just ask the Tory party). Rishi brought up the fact that a number of export licenses for arms to Israel had been revoked – an issue thrilling with atrocities, ethical conundrums, mutual claims of genocide and geopolitical consequences up to and including Armageddon.

Keir presented a sober response in terms of applying the requirement for reviewing the legal framework which was last reviewed in 2021 and under the most recent review brought them to a clear legal conclusion which was shared with Parliament (are you with him so far?).

In that way he has, of appealing to the judge and not the jury, he said that “applying the framework did not allow me to ignore the decision of the assessment”, whatever that assessment might have been, and that “It was a legal decision not a policy decision,” and finally, “It’s not about Israel.”

Not what?

It was, he said, about all licences.

It was a bloodless, bureaucratic reply that lacked heart or flesh, or bone, or anything at all, really. It wouldn’t stand up as an argument against the Anti-Christ in the fires of a global apocalypse – but that may be asking too much of a former Director of Public Prosecutions.

In other questions, “Actions not slogans,” he sloganed. Black hole made several appearance as did “broke the economy”. We were reminded that his first priority was “to stabilise the economy”. What with four day weeks, Day One rights and multiple tax hikes the economy should be stabilized to a standstill. It was here that Keir’s revolutionary powers became apparent.

New MP Harriet Cross teed him up with her debut question pounding away with the projections from the oil and gas industry – that windfall taxes would result in investment losses of £13 billion and 35,000 jobs as investment in the North Sea was slashed with energy companies drifting away. She also allowed her listeners to dwell lovingly on the loss of £12 billion in tax revenues and the “economic suicide” that we will surely face.

It was a throwaway line in response to this that revealed Keir’s capacity for national change. He told the Commons that the latest funding round for renewables had allowed 133 projects to go ahead and that they will power 11 million homes.

It is “practically Hitler” to point it out, but the PM has neglected to apply the appropriate load factors to the projects – solar, for instance generates just 10% of the power it says on the name plate, and onshore wind only 25%. The 11 million homes are in reality more like six million. Or 11 million homes getting power twelve hours a day. The costs of “the cheapest form of energy” will escalate the more of it we have.

After five years of turning the country into “a clean energy superpower” of “creating hundreds of thousands of high-paying green jobs” and “reducing energy bills for every household” – it is clear that Government will have transformed our sclerotic, WRAC-ridden, barely-functioning country into a shivering economic shambles with the most punitive energy bills in the world and the highest hypothermia deaths outside Soviet gulags.

Is it too legalistic to suggest that prior legislation might be modified to stop it all? The Clerk could revive the Buggery Act of 1531, and repurpose it to apply to nations. It may be the only way to stop Ed Miliband in his dark and dreadful work.