Prime Minister's Questions: The key bits and the verdict
- Published
Theresa May went head-to-head with Jeremy Corbyn in the House of Commons. Here's what happened.
It had all started so well. Theresa May was positively beaming as Jeremy Corbyn offered his "Christmas wishes" to her and "everyone over there" on the Conservative benches.
By the end of the session, the Commons was in uproar, with Tory MPs baying for an apology from Mr Corbyn after he had allegedly muttered "stupid woman" at the prime minister.
The row over what Mr Corbyn did or didn't say (his team later insisted he had said "stupid people") overshadowed the session, but here, for the record, are the exchanges that preceded it.
"I just want to say that the prime minister has plunged this country into a national crisis," began the Labour leader.
He accused Theresa May of "running down the clock" on alternatives to her Brexit deal by seeking assurances from the EU that she knew she would not get.
Mrs May insisted the government was still working with the EU and that MPs would get a meaningful vote.
Mr Corbyn talks about what he's against, she told MPs, but he never says what he's for. He goes on about a meaningful vote, she added, "all he gives us is a meaningless position".
"We should have had the vote a week ago," replied Mr Corbyn. There are no meetings of the European Council scheduled until 21 March and "the EU has been clear there are no more meetings, clarifications or negotiations", he added.
He accused the PM of "playing for time" and predicted she would bring back the same deal as last week. Would she set out clearly how she would achieve the legally binding assurances on the Northern Ireland backstop by the time MPs returned on 7 January, asked the Labour leader.
The prime minister said she would bring the assurances back when the House resumed on the 7 January.
"He can get as angry as he likes, but it doesn't hide the fact that he has no Brexit plan," she added.
Jeremy Corbyn says Theresa May is "playing for time" in Brexit talks
Mr Corbyn asked the PM for a "cast iron guarantee" that the vote will not be delayed again.
Mrs May said that the government have been "very clear" on what it was doing on Brexit.
The Labour leader said that preparing for a no-deal Brexit that would never happen was "a criminal waste of money" and a "shameful attempt to make her own bad deal look like the lesser of two evils".
Mrs May said it was the responsible position of any government to put in place contingency arrangements for any scenario.
She added that Jeremy Corbyn should practice what he preaches and support the deal to avoid a no-deal outcome.
Quoting Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, Mr Corbyn said threatening no deal was "an absolute disgrace".
"Parliament must take back control," he demanded, calling the delay in the Parliamentary vote a "deeply cynical manoeuvre" from a "failing" prime minister.
Mrs May replied that Mr Corbyn was being "ineffective" by not tabling a no confidence motion, then tabling one that is ineffective.
"I know it's the pantomime season," she cried, "is he going to put a confidence vote? Oh yes he is," and backbench Tories joined in to say "oh no he isn't".
"Look behind you", she shouted, gesturing at the Labour benches, "they are not impressed and neither is the country".
This prompted a muttered reaction from the Labour leader, and the rest is history.
PMQs: Does Jeremy Corbyn call Theresa May a "stupid woman"?
What else came up?
The SNP's leader at Westminster Ian Blackford picked up the baton from Mr Corbyn and asked when MPs were going to get a vote on the Brexit deal.
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Remain-supporting Tory MP Justine Greening asked about Brexit.
Justine Greening: Is Brexit message to British people "crisis, what crisis?"
Labour's Stella Creasey, who like Ms Greening, backs the People's Vote campaign for another EU referendum, asked about a constituent who she said had been given a redundancy notice because of Brexit.
Stella Creasy asks the PM if she will leave it to “one of her successors to deal with these problems”
The Verdict
Here is BBC Parliamentary Correspondent Mark Darcy's take on the session:
It will probably be overshadowed by the row over whether Jeremy Corbyn muttered the words "stupid woman" after the prime minister's panto-style attack on his failure to put a no-confidence motion against her, but we learned a couple of interesting things from this session of PMQs.
First, the prime minister does continue to believe that immigration can be reduced to "tens of thousands", a fact which could discomfit the home secretary, who repeatedly refused to offer that pledge.
Second the PM sidestepped a request form Jeremy Corbyn to confirm that the (already postponed) Meaningful Vote on her Brexit deal would take place in the week beginning 14 January - the timetable she set out just days ago. Is she, therefore, already contemplating a further postponement?
Third, the hostile questions from her own side came not from the hard Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen, but from a series of pro-Remain figures: Sarah Wollaston, Justine Greening and Anna Soubry.
In the PM's recent Commons appearances, the No Deal wing of the Conservative Party seems to have dialed down its rhetoric…..but that seems to have provoked an equal and opposite reaction from the "People's Vote" wing, illustrating the continuing strategic dilemma she faces in keeping her party together.
The PM had some well-rehearsed fun with Jeremy Corbyn's recent tactics, and her "behind you" jibe that he should beware of his disgruntled troops struck home.
But her own troops were not happy either - Brexiteer Tim Laughton's jaunty invitation to spend the proceeds of a No Deal Brexit, where no divorce settlement is paid to the EU, making billions available, was also a delicate reminder of an alternative Brexit agenda that many Tory MPs would prefer.
No-one can really be said to have "won" or "lost" this encounter (except perhaps the Speaker) but for once some useful nuggets of information were exposed.