Keir Starmer reveals one of his children has tested NEGATIVE for coronavirus as he leaves self-isolation but still skips PMQs
- Sir Keir Starmer is out of self-isolation after one of children tested negative
- The Labour leader said he had only got a test because wife works for the NHS
- Condemned the government’s ‘unacceptable’ testing system and slammed PM
Boris Johnson swiped at Keir Starmer for failing to face him at PMQs today after the Labour leader revealed one of his children has tested negative for coronavirus.
The Labour leader said he was ‘pleased and relieved’ to be out of self-isolation after two days waiting for the result.
However, he skipped PMQs this lunchtime, with deputy Angela Rayner standing in.
She raised the case of ‘Keir’ at the despatch box, saying he had needed to miss work because he had not received the result of a test in time.
But Mr Johnson pointed out that Sir Keir was now out of quarantine. ‘I don’t know quite why he is not here.’
The premier defended the shambolic testing arrangements, despite warnings that schools are on the brink of becoming ‘unsustainable’ due to delays.
‘Eighty-nine per cent of those that have in person tests get (results) the next day,’ Mr Johnson said. ‘We are working very fast to turn around all the test requests that we get.’
Sir Keir tweeted today: I’m very pleased and relieved that the test result for one of my children came back negative this morning.
‘Thank you to the NHS hospital where my wife works for ensuring that their staff and family members have quick access to a test.
‘However, I know the situation is desperate at the moment for thousands of families across the country who are struggling to get a test. They deserve answers and for this problem to be fixed.
Sir Keir tweeted today: I’m very pleased and relieved that the test result for one of my children came back negative this morning.’
Angela Rayner deputised for Sir Keir at the dispatch box against Mr Johnson today. The PM swiped that he was not sure why Sir Keir had not come himself
Sir Keir Starmer told the TUC conference by video link yesterday that he had only been screened because his wife works for the NHS.
Sir Keir delivered a stinging attack on the government’s testing shambles from home yesterday.
Addressing the TUC conference via video link from his north London home, Sir Keir nsisted the only reason he had been able to be checked was that his wife Victoria works for the NHS, adding: ‘for thousands up and down the country it is a very different story’.
And turning his fire on Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock, he said: ‘It is not the British people that are to blame for these mistakes. It is not the civil service…
‘It is the government that is holding Britain back.’
Mr Johnson and Mr Hancock have both suggested that the system is under pressure because people are seeking tests when they don’t have symptoms.
Meanwhile, health officials have blamed the crisis – which experts fear will rumble on for weeks – on a staffing shortage in laboratories.
Desperate bosses have now admitted they may have to hire students to plug gaps in the rota in the face of sky-high demand.
Sir Keir announced he was going into self-isolation hours after taking a phone-in in the LBC radio studios yesterday.
He lives with wife Victoria and their son and daughter, thought to be aged 10 and eight respectively, in north London.
Mr Johnson tweeted his best wishes and said he had called Sir Keir.
