Another remarkable week for Keir Starmer and the BBC - Vladimir McTavish

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (right) crying as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday Picture: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

He may have managed to get enough of his rebel MPs under control to stave off a full-scale revolt to the Welfare Reform Bill, but it did look like an embarrassing climb down.

It was a bit like a Premier League side getting a stoppage time winner against non-league opponents in the FA Cup. OK, he may have won, but he wore the red face of a loser.

His second remarkable achievement was to accidentally elicit an emotional response from Rachel Reeves. The Chancellor’s demeanour usually borders between cold and robotic, but on Wednesday she was seen to shed tears on television.

When Kemi Badenoch asked Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions whether Reeves would still be in her job by the next election, the PM fudged his answer and Iron Rachel could be seen weeping behind him.

Starmer’s response was that Kemi herself would not be in her job by the next election, which could explain the Chancellor’s tears.

The prospect of Badenoch not be around is truly horrifying to the Cabinet. Imagine if the Tories replaced her with someone who knows what they were talking about?

A colleague later explained that Reeves was crying due to “a personal matter”. Doubtless true. Matters don’t come much more personal than your boss refusing to commit to not sacking you.

All this farce could have been avoided if the Prime Minister had spent last week talking to his own MPs rather than sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong, with his comments on the Glastonbury line-up and the BBC’s scheduling of live broadcasts.

The media has been awash with faux outrage all week since some rather inappropriate remarks were made by rap duo Bob Vylan, which were recorded live on TV.

They encouraged the crowd to join in their chant of “Death, death to the IDF”. Yeah, like a bunch of pilled-up clubbers dancing in a field pose any threat to the Israeli military.

Let’s get a level of perspective here. At the same time as a few thousand hipsters were jumping around in a mosh pit in Somerset, the actual IVF were launching a missile attack on a seafront cafe in Gaza, killing 20 Palestinians. Now, that’s genuinely outrageous.

The public really couldn’t care less about rock stars’ opinions. You only have to look at last year’s US election, where Kamala Harris won the showbiz vote hands-down.

Bruce Springsteen campaigned hard in support of the Democrats but millions of his fans voted for Trump. And when Rod Stewart says “I think we should give Nigel Farage a chance”, the most common reaction is “Oh no, the silly old git is p***ed again”.

Starmer was quick to condemn Bob Vylan’s behaviour, but perhaps the best way to stop musicians from making these inflammatory comments would be to stop selling arms to Israel.

Back to Glastonbury. Next up on stage after Bob Vylan were Kneecap, who led the crowd in a chant of “F**k Keir Starmer”. Which, judging by Tuesday’s vote, went down very well with a lot of backbench Labour MPs.