Keir Starmer's thin skin becomes evident during heated exchange with Rishi Sunak at PMQs

One of Keir Starmer's biggest problems is that he has a very thin skin.

Criticism and flak appear to sting, immediately provoking irritable and defensive reactions.

This is not a good quality for a Prime Minister to have.

The latest iteration came during PMQs when Sir Keir was skewered by Rishi Sunak for halting a system for monitoring interference from foreign states.

A wrong-footed Starmer abruptly replied "That isn't correct" before quickly returning to his frontbench seat.

Like an exocet the Tory leader snapped back, suggesting the Prime Minister must "get up to speed on this issue".

That went down about as well with Sir Keir as him being told that he'd been barred from a Taylor Swift gig.

Rattled, the PM could be seen chuntering with Labour frontbenchers and then he called Sunak "Prime Minister".

His mood didn't lift for a full ten minutes, every answer blaming the previous Conservative government for all the country's apparent woes.

If face contortions were an Olympic sport then James Cleverly would win the gold medal hands down - the former Home Secretary frowning, gurning and cheek-puffing his way through the PM's grumbling.

Perhaps Starmer's mood was darkened by the fact that Sunak declined to raise the issue of the PM's favourite US pop star.

On the day the new England football manager was unveiled Sunak really did have an open goal to attack the Prime Minister over his freebie Taylor Swift tickets and family meeting with the billionaire songstress.

Alas, Sir Giftalot and fellow Labour Swifties - Yvette Cooper, Darren Jones and Wes Streeting - were spared the embarrassment as attention remained on the more serious matter of China and its aggressive actions towards Taiwan.

By this point Chancellor Rachel Reeves had zoned-out, her mind most likely choc-a-bloc full of ways in which to put taxes up and cut public spending.

This rather banal PMQs seemed rather inadequate as it came just days after the death of one of politics great debaters, Alex Salmond.

Tributes were paid to Scotland's former First Minister by all party leaders in the Commons, who also remembered former Tory MP Sir David Amess three years after his tragic murder.