If you can’t play nice, play dirty: The stage is set for a very grubby election

The PM and leader of the opposition have ramped up the personal attacks, writes Joe Murphy – aided by some behind-the-scenes evisceration by Sir Simon Clarke and Lord Sumption

Starmer got the better of Sunak during a lively PMQs (Reuters)

Hey, Siri, where do you hide a 6ft 7in body?

With a sense of anticipation akin to breakfast time at The Traitors’ castle, MPs craned their heads for a sighting at PMQs of beanpole former minister Sir Simon Clarke.

Clarke was missing. Had he been murdered in the night by the Whips? Bound and gagged in the stone cell under Big Ben? His favoured place in Rebel Corner, the patch of green benches where the madder elements of the Tory right congregate, stayed empty as the chamber filled up before midday.