Boris Johnson seen chuckling in the Commons while Rishi Sunak talks about Ukraine

Boris Johnson was seen chuckling and pulling faces inside the House of Commons on Wednesday, at the same time as Rishi Sunak talked about people huddling in basements in Ukraine.

The clip, which was tweeted by Adam Bienkov, the political Editor and Correspondent at Byline Times, shows Johnson smirking and making a face at one of the MPs across from him inside the house.

While he was smiling before the comments were made and almost certainly joking about something else, it’s still not a brilliant look for the prime minister.

“Mr Speaker, as I stand here, men, women and children are huddled in basements across Ukraine seeking protection,” Sunak can be heard saying.

“Soldiers and citizens alike have taken up arms to defend their land.”

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Social media users reacted to the clip, with one saying: “Don't think he was chuckling at that. He was already chuckling like an oaf. But, seriously, he's in the House of Commons, discussing serious issues and he is not taking it, well, seriously. The discourse required a level of gravitas. And he was not showing it.”

Another added: “He is not laughing at Sunak's comments, often in the HofC people on the benches opposite make comments/pull faces and hence we cannot see or hear that.”

Meanwhile, comedian Kathy Burke was unimpressed either way.

It comes as the chancellor delivered his mini-Budget to give people a helping hand with their finances as inflation hits a 30-year high.

He has announced a 5p fuel duty cut and a rise in the National Insurance threshold by £3,000. People will keep an extra £3,000 before they pay national insurance, under the “largest ever” tax cut announced by Sunak.

Meanwhile, a senior government official told The Independent that it would be “nonsensical” for Johnson to visit Ukraine during the Russian invasion of the country.

Johnson is “desperate” to pay a trip to Ukraine to “experience what is happening there”, the Conservative party chairman Oliver Dowden previously confirmed.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) official said the prime minister’s time “would be better spent addressing Home Office dysfunction” over the Britain’s response to the refugee crisis.

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