Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch was in high spirits during the typically confrontational PMQs, urging all MPs to rally behind England as they face Argentina this evening.
Badenoch remarked that while Keir Starmer might be “disappointed at not following in the footsteps of his hero Harold Wilson by winning multiple elections … we all hope he might replicate him in another way, by being the prime minister when England clinches the World Cup.” England’s only triumph in the tournament was in 1966.
The Tory leader emphasized that this is something “everyone in this house should support, especially the SNP.” However, the diminished group of Scottish independence-supporting MPs, possibly still recovering from their exit in the World Cup group stage, expressed their disapproval by shaking their heads.
Indeed, resistance to England’s potential victory spanned across party lines.
Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman shared with POLITICO that he would be watching “from behind the couch and through the gaps in our fingers,” noting it would be “unbearable” if England reached the final.
