A special moment where the House of Commons stood united against a common enemy... Nigel Farage

A massive cry of ‘hear, hear!’ went up from Labour and Tory MPs alike, writes Joe Murphy. It was in a remarkable and moving show of unity – in reminding the Reform UK leader we support Zelensky and not Putin

There are special moments when the House of Commons truly unites against a common enemy despised on all sides of the chamber. But before we get on to the bit where MPs suddenly all turned on Nigel Farage, we should also record the remarkable and moving show of unity in support of President Zelensky of Ukraine.

If Donald Trump was tuned in to the BBC Parliament channel, which admittedly is unlikely, he would have had no doubt that the man he rudely kicked out of the White House last week is viewed as nothing less than a hero in the mother of parliaments.

Trump, if he kept watching, would have been confused to see old-school Tories queueing up to praise the “pitch-perfect leadership” of the Labour prime minister. He would have been annoyed to discover that not one MP blamed Zelensky for last week’s car crash in the Oval Office.

Shortly before the prime minister’s statement, which was to update the House on the events of the weekend, a flunkey walked to the front bench with Keir Starmer’s latest modernisation. A royal blue blanket was placed on the dispatch box, the ornate chest upon which prime ministerial elbows and papers have rested for the past 70 years, and then a specially-made mini lectern was mounted on top. It seems to be a sort of booster seat to assist the PM’s eyesight when reading aloud.

Starmer rose to a hum of approval. This was “the test of our times”, he told the House. To succeed, the backing of the United States was vital. “They are, and always will be indispensable, and we will never choose between either side of the Atlantic.”

Of that bust-up in the Oval Office, Starmer avoided apportioning blame by keeping repeating that it was a sight “no one wants to see”.

MPs lowed in approval of all this but the support levels surged when the PM described the “moving scenes” when members of the public turned out to cheer Zelensky during his visit to the UK. “Heeeeeeearrrr, heeaarrrrr!” roared the House.

Starmer sat down looking content. What followed was supposed to be an hour of penetrating questions but, with some important exceptions, most of the interventions were from MPs eager to be seen as being alongside the PM.

Among these was Kemi Badenoch who declared it was “time to discuss where we do agree”. For her questions, the Conservative leader asked if he would “go further” and use Russian-seized assets – and sought an update on steps to get Ukraine a place at negotiations. Nothing to make Starmer sweat or embarrass Trump, which she might one day regret.

Ed Davey, however, was “horrified by the scenes at the Oval Office” and spoke for “reducing our dependency on the US” for security. One was reminded of the Iraq war when Charles Kennedy opposed it and Iain Duncan Smith backed Tony Blair. As I recall, the Lib Dems did rather well out of that.

From the Labour benches, there were signs of a growing protest against the decision to cut overseas aid to pay for military spending. Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the foreign affairs committee, warned there may be little left for “meaningful humanitarian support”.

But mostly, Labour MPs were falling over with obsequious praise, which reached its nadir when Oliver Ryan – one of the MPs caught up in the WhatsApp controversy – asked if he could praise “in the strongest terms the PM’s pitch-perfect leadership”.

Badenoch’s former leadership rivals James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat outdid her in heaping praise on Starmer too.

Then Nigel Farage stood. The Reform leader had ruffled feathers earlier by saying on radio that Zelensky was rude to Trump in the Oval Office. Now he asked a pertinent question – which Starmer did not answer – about whether British troops would be needed and “how many?”

Starmer rose slowly and deliberately, weighing how hard to swing his bat. “Can I just remind him, Russia is the aggressor, Zelensky is a war leader whose country has been invaded – and we should all be supporting him and not fawning over Putin?”

A massive cry of “hear, hear!” went up from Labour and Tory MPs alike. The House was, for a moment, truly united.