Pmqs

PMQs: The cost of living versus the economy

PMQs has settled into a pattern. Ed Miliband attacks David Cameron about the cost of living and David Cameron responds by attacking Ed Miliband about the economy. With economic growth returning, Miliband needs to make the political argument about the cost of living if he’s to win. But Cameron is trying to stop Miliband from changing the subject. So, today Cameron dismissed Miliband’s energy freeze as a ‘price con’ while trying to wrench the argument back to the economy. The result: no clear winner. listen to ‘PMQs: Cameron vs Miliband’ on Audioboo Interestingly, Cameron again emphasised that the best way to help people with the cost of living was to cut

Isabel Hardman

The energy price freeze is becoming the new 50p tax

David Cameron clearly didn’t think he’d had a good PMQs by the time he’d finished with Ed Miliband. There was something irritable and tired about the Prime Minister as he took questions from backbenchers, and that weariness was compounded by the sight of Dennis Skinner limbering to his feet to deliver a long, angry and moving question about the work capability assessment. Dennis Skinner is the last thing you want floating to the top when your PMQs performance has been below par. And it was below par. I understand that Cameron was given a very detailed briefing indeed today on energy prices because it was highly likely that Ed Miliband

PMQs sketch: Ed Balls leaves them wanting more

Here’s a favourite Tory joke. Question: What does ‘BBC’ stand for? Answer: Buggers Broadcasting Communism. David Cameron seemed tempted to try this gag at PMQs today. He mentioned the Beeb four times in sardonic asides. ‘Let’s praise the BBC for once,’ he said, bitingly. He woke this morning, he said, to a BBC report stating that public satisfaction with council services had risen despite the cuts. ‘I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.’ He berated Ed Miliband for wanting to introduce new decarbonisation targets. ‘Even the BBC doesn’t agree with that.’ And he attacked Milband’s promise to freeze energy bills as evidence that ‘he’d like to live in a

Isabel Hardman

Score draw at PMQs as leaders bicker about energy bills

Perhaps David Cameron got up super-early to open his birthday presents today, or perhaps he’s a bit tired after his fortnight of party conference and reshuffle mayhem, but the Prime Minister wasn’t on top form today at PMQs. Neither was Ed Miliband, for that matter. Both men bickered about who had the best energy policy, like two kids comparing birthday presents in a playground. Neither really got in a deadly shot, with both seeming a little halting. listen to ‘PMQs: Cameron v Miliband on energy prices’ on Audioboo

PMQs audioblog | 9 October 2013

Here’s the main exchange between David Cameron and Ed Miliband at PMQs today:- listen to ‘PMQs: Cameron v Miliband on energy prices’ on Audioboo After wishing the Prime Minister a happy birthday, Ed made the debate all about his energy price cap policy. By PMQs standards it was a reasonably informed one, but neither Cameron nor Miliband are on a strong footing when it comes to energy price rises: they’ve both been in governments where prices have soared and little has been done about it. There was a droll exchange between Richard Ottaway and the Prime Minister over scrap metal. Ottaway asked the Prime Minister to welcome the new Scrap

PMQs sketch: All Miliband has left is food banks and class war

Tough times for Ed Miliband. He looked pretty glum at the start of PMQs. Was he wishing that Syria had developed in a different direction? A few weeks of statesmanlike ‘unity and consensus’ – while Assad got his wrists slapped by a volley of Tomahawks – might have suited him better. Instead he was forced onto the domestic agenda. And it’s turning into quicksand. All his best accusations have been sucked into the mire. He can no longer mention the following: flat-lining, Plan B, the double dip, the bedroom tax, the benefit cap, cutting too fast and too deep. As for his trustiest platitude – ‘a recession made in Downing

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: Cameron lands the blows with cheesy jokes

David Cameron managed to win Prime Minister’s Questions today by shoehorning in a series of smart one-liners about Ed Miliband’s leadership. It says a lot about how the Prime Minister has managed to recover quite impressively from his defeat over Syria that he has been able to continue his ‘weak’ attack line. On that Thursday night in the Commons when the government lost its vote, it seemed that Cameron was dangerously weakened. Today he threw out jokes about Miliband having ‘folded faster than a Bournemouth deck chair’, that the Labour leader ‘went to Bournemouth and he completely bottled it’ and that ‘he told us it was going to be Raging

PMQs audioblog

Ed Miliband opened with unemployment, then followed up on living standards, attacking Cameron and Osborne for their ‘hubris and total complacency’. listen to ‘Cameron invites ‘constructive suggestions’ from Ed Miliband at PMQs’ on Audioboo Gloria de Piero found herself on the order paper this morning, and wondered – what would twitter ask the PM? But it was David Cameron who crowd-sourced his answer: listen to ‘Is Gloria happy with Ed?’ on Audioboo Later on, Cameron, who seemed to have the best lines, replied to a rather dry planted question about trading standards with another jab at Ed’s union links, saying that he had ‘folded faster than a Bournemouth deck chair’.

PMQs: does David Cameron have any idea of MPs’ real concerns with the Lobbying Bill?

There’s nothing wrong with the Prime Minister turning up to PMQs with a snappy line that he wants those watching to remember. But sometimes as the exchanges wear on, the risk grows that the clever line isn’t going to get a showing because the questions haven’t been quite right. And so the line gets shoehorned into an answer that isn’t quite relevant. Take today’s question from Margaret Beckett on the lobbying bill that last night some Tory MPs decided to vote against. Beckett asked: ‘Why does the PM believe that his plans to restrict lobbying are opposed by organisations from the Salvation Army, Countryside Alliance, Oxfam, the British Legion and so

James Forsyth

PMQs: David Cameron’s hatred towards Ed Miliband is palpable

MPs piled into the Chamber expecting a blood and thunder affair. But instead it was rather subdued. Ed Miliband chose to ask six questions about the Syrian situation concentrating on the humanitarian and diplomatic situation and Cameron had to respond in measured tones. Though, one could sense that Cameron would have loved to have gone for Miliband. listen to ‘Miliband questions Cameron on Syria at PMQs’ on Audioboo The most needle came in their finale exchange when Miliband declared that last week’s vote had not been about Britain withdrawing from the world but ‘preventing a rush to war’. Cameron witheringly replied that his regret was that Miliband had chosen ‘to

PMQs sketch: Cigarettes and alcohol and Lynton Crosby

Cigs and booze. These issues dominated PMQs today. Ed Miliband tried to portray the PM as a puppet of ‘Big Tobacco’ whose decision not to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes was influenced by his electoral guru, Lynton Crosby. Had the PM ever ‘had a conversation’ with Crosby about fag packets? Shifty Cameron dodged sideways and declared that Crosby never ‘lobbied me about anything’. ‘Weasel words,’ said Miliband, looking triumphant. He quoted a Tory GP, Sarah Wollaston, who labelled the decision ‘a day of shame’ for the government. Up popped the lady herself from the backbenches. Dr Wollaston begged the PM to re-think his decision against ‘minimum unit pricing’, which she

James Forsyth

PMQs: Cameron cheers MPs with ‘every day this country is getting stronger and he is getting weaker’ attack

PMQs today was not as noisy an affair as last week. But the opening exchanges between David Cameron and Ed Miliband still had plenty of needle in them: things are becoming increasingly personal between these two. The Cameron/Miliband exchanges were initially relatively even. I noticed a fair few Tory backbenchers having to stifle a laugh at Miliband’s line that Cameron was the Prime Minister for ‘Benson and Hedge funds’. His attack on Cameron’s ‘weasel words’ about whether or not Lynton Crosby had spoken to him about plain packaging, combined with Labour’s call for an inquiry by the Cabinet Secretary, will keep this story going. But Cameron’s last line that ‘every

PMQs sketch: Wimbledon and trade union scandals

Andy Murray’s joy is now complete. Yes, he won Wimbledon and all that, but his crowning glory came today when he was mentioned at the start of PMQs. Cameron apparently has no idea how goofy and devious he looked last Sunday when he half-opened the door of Downing Street and stepped out to greet Murray with a shifty smirk plastered across his face. In the House, he declared that the first British victory at Wimbledon in 77 years was a historic event. Ed Miliband agreed but appended the triumph of Virginia Wade in 1977 to Cameron’s tribute. This was greeted by a Labour cheer so loud that it registered at

James Forsyth

Miliband shores up his leadership at noisy PMQs

That was as loud as the Prime Minister’s Questions that immediately preceded the last election. The Labour benches were clearly determined to ensure that there was no repeat of last week’s mauling of Ed Miliband. They barracked David Cameron from the off, even chanting ‘weak, weak, weak’ during his answers and almost every Labour question was on the propriety of the Tories’ relations with their donors. This, combined with a far stronger performance from Ed Miliband, ensured that the session ended with Cameron, not Miliband, on the back foot. Cameron’s problem is that Miliband is turning this from a debate about union influence on Labour selections into one about money

How the Spectator blew the whistle on the International Health Service

At Prime Minister’s Questions today, backbencher Philip Lee ambushed David Cameron on the subject of health tourism. He asked: ‘As a doctor who once had to listen incredulously to a patient explain, via a translator, that she only discovered she was nine months’ pregnant on arrival at terminal 3 at Heathrow, I was pleased to hear the statement from the Secretary of State for Health today on health tourism. Does the Prime Minister agree that although the savings are modest, the principle matters? The health service should be national, not international.’ The Prime Minister replied: ‘My hon. Friend makes a very important point. This is a national health service, not

Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: Another wretched day for Ed Miliband

Today Ed Miliband headed for the favourite destination of faltering leaders: abroad. Any crisis-stricken banana republic will do. At PMQs the Labour leader decided that Egypt would fit the bill. Knitting his brows into a gap-year frown of munificent superiority, Miliband asked the PM to tell us how Britain is encouraging President Morsi ‘to secure a negotiated settlement in advance of the army deadline.’ Yes, Ed. Absolutely. The whole of Tahrir Square is hanging on your every word. Cameron might have come clean at this point and told us what Ed was playing at: ‘I may not save Egypt from its looming civil war but its looming civil war may

James Forsyth

Ed Miliband and David Cameron get personal in PMQs

When Ed Miliband began at PMQs by asking about Egypt, it looked like he was going to do six high-minded questions on foreign affairs and thus dodge the political attack the Tories had lined up for him. But that wasn’t Miliband’s plan, after a couple of questions on Egypt he shifted to education. I suspect that by the end of session, he wished he stuck to what’s going on in Tahrir Square. For Cameron took the return to domestic politics as an opportunity to relentlessly batter Labour over its links to Unite and Unite’s behaviour in Falkirk. Cameron and Miliband went at each other with real needle. There was a

PMQs sketch: Tasered choirboys and hilarious failings

listen to ‘Spending review 2013: the Coffee House analysis’ on Audioboo Shock news at PMQs. Miliband scored a hit. He succeeded in making Cameron look silly. True, he enjoyed his triumph a little too much, but his performance will have cheered his party enormously. For weeks they’ve had to watch their leader bungling at the despatch-box like an octopus trying to make a pancake. Miliband’s weapon of choice: statistics. It’s hard to use mere mathematics to hurt a politician but Miliband handled his materials with deadly aplomb. He uncovered woeful failures in government programmes. And the revelations weren’t just bad. They were hilariously bad. He kicked off with a statement

PMQs sketch: In which Labour join the coalition

This was a card-shredder of a performance by Ed Miliband. He’s had some difficult outings lately but he barely even showed up at PMQs today. His team of phrase-makers and sloganeers have abandoned him too. Either they’re in the Priory, taking emergency anti-depressants, or they’ve quit the party altogether. And those in Labour’s heartlands watching their leader floundering today are probably composting their membership cards right now. Ed’s central attack looked like an attempt to give Cameron a relaxing massage. He accused the government of offering tax-breaks to the rich. Yet Labour’s top tax-rate was lower for most of their 13 years than it is today. Cameron took the opportunity