Kemi Badenoch set an elephant trap for Keir Starmer and then she fell headfirst right into it

It’s fair to say that no matter how low your expectations were for Kemi Badenoch when she was elected Conservative Party leader, she has failed to live up to them.

PMQs have been a particularly unhappy hunting ground for the new(ish) Tory leader, and Wednesday’s self-own was the most staggering of the lot.

It was a question about John Tuckett, the government’s prospective new borders watchdog and, well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Cue Badenoch!

Badenoch: “The govt is recruiting a new chief inspector of borders, who lives in Finland & wants to WFH, this is not serious”

Starmer: “He was appointed in 2019 by the last govt, he then worked from Finland. He’ll now be working from the UK full time”#PMQs #PoliticsLive pic.twitter.com/Qi7vfSDz56

— David (@Zero_4) February 12, 2025

Mega oof.

And the rest of it wasn’t any better either …

The weekly ritual humiliation of Kemi Badenoch by Keir Starmer #PMQs

From Badenoch refusing a high level briefing on the Chagos islands so she can keep criticising Labour

To Badenoch criticising Labour for hiring the person the Conservatives hired in 2019 ‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/9oJG5k9R8e

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) February 12, 2025

And here are just a few of the many things people were saying about it.

1.

Shitting hell, Kemi just fell into her own trap.

Staggeringly stupid!

— Sarah (@SASR666) February 12, 2025

2.

And there we have it criticise the appointment of the man that the Tories appointed working from home – from Finland https://t.co/gnrwvoJwMc

— dave lawrence (@dave43law) February 12, 2025

3.

That was a humdinger by Starmer

— Viviane: Opinionated (@LaindonFEMINIST) February 12, 2025

4.

Striking how poorly researched Kemi Badenoch’s PMQs are. Best line was about Labour’s new borders watchdog that will apparently WFH in Finland, knocked back by Starmer explaining he was hired and worked from home since 2019 under the Tories. Lack of fact-checking extraordinary.

— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) February 12, 2025

5.

That wasn’t just Kemi Badenoch’s worst performance as leader. It was one of the worst performances ever from a leader of the opposition. She had no capacity to readjust after Starmer gave her a clear and direct answer on the Gaza family. It was embarrassing to watch.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) February 12, 2025

6.

It’s like she’s decided she doesn’t really want the job after all and is trying to get out of it by being ubershit.

— Superbird5000 (@superbird5000) February 12, 2025