PMQs will take place online for the first time ever today - how to watch and what might be said

Prime Minister’s Questions will take place remotely, as Boris Johnson continues to self-isolate.

The Prime Minister will take questions from home for at least the next two weeks, after he was contacted by NHS Test and Trace following a meeting with Lee Anderson MP, who has tested positive for the virus.

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It will be the first time in history that the weekly opportunity for scrutiny of the Prime Minister and government will take place remotely.

Other senior government ministers have stepped in on previous occasions when the Prime Minister has been unavailable in the recent past, and it is not clear why that hasn’t been the case on this occasion.

It was noted that the Prime Minister performed worse at PMQs during the height of Covid restrictions, when a minimum number of his party’s MPs could be present in the chamber to provide the customary jeering and barracking.

When is PMQs and how can I watch it?

When Parliament is sitting, Prime Minister’s Questions takes place on Wednesdays at noon.

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You can watch it on Parliament.tv or on the BBC Parliament channel.

What will be discussed?

As ever, both the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, will be looking to score political points in the weekly clash.

With the release of an National Audit Office (NAO) report into government procurement throughout the pandemic, it seems likely Mr Starmer will highlight its findings, which point to a lack of transparency and the potential for cronyism.

However, internal rifts within the Labour party may give the Prime Minister ample ammunition to fend off the opposition leader’s lines of attack.

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Former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was reinstated to the Labour party yesterday (17 Nov), following a decision by a mixed group of members of the party’s National Executive Committee.

The decision calls into question whether the move to suspend Mr Corbyn from the party last month - which many think came from the leader’s office - was the right one.

Elsewhere, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford is likely to have some characteristically strong words for the Prime Minister, after it came to light this week that Mr Johnson described devolution as “a disaster north of the border.”

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