'More positions in 14 years than Kama Sutra': Keir Starmer’s brutal swipe at Conservatives in Parliament

A handout photograph taken and released by the UK Parliament's House of Commons on January 14, 2026 shows Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaking during the weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons in London. (Photo by House of Commons / AFP)

UK PM Keir Starmer mocked Conservatives in Parliament, citing their frequent leadership changes and criticizing their record. Labour dropped plans for a single digital ID card for workers but will enforce mandatory digital checks to combat illegal employment.

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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer used sharp humour in Parliament on Wednesday to skewer the opposition Conservative Party, accusing it of chaos and exhaustion after more than a decade in power.

The jibe came during a heated Commons exchange over the government’s decision to abandon plans for a single mandatory digital ID card for workers. Starmer said Labour had not diluted its stance on illegal employment, stressing that enforcement would continue through compulsory digital checks, even if the form of ID was no longer fixed.

“I’m determined to make it harder for people to work illegally in this country, and that is why there will be checks. They will be digital, and they will be mandatory,” he told MPs.

Starmer then turned his fire on the Conservatives’ record in office, listing a carousel of leadership and ministerial changes since 2010. “Over the past 14 years, they have had five prime ministers, six chancellors, eight home secretaries, and 16 housing ministers,” he said, before adding, “They had more positions in 14 years than the Kama Sutra. No wonder they’re knackered and they left the country screwed.”

The digital ID proposal, unveiled last September, aimed to create a standardised system to verify the right to work in Britain. While Labour initially signalled it would be compulsory, the plan ran into resistance from across the political spectrum, with critics raising privacy fears and warning that such systems could expand into wider surveillance.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed the retreat, branding the original proposal a “rubbish policy” and accusing the government of poor judgment. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, hailed the move as a “victory for individual liberty” and pledged to scrap digital ID altogether if his party comes to power.

Labour, for its part, insists the policy shift is about flexibility, not retreat, arguing that the focus remains on enforcement rather than the technology itself.