Cameron settling in nicely
James Forsyth 1:50pm
David Cameron was on punchy form at PMQs today. He jibed that in Harriet Harman’s
case the Budget Red Book should be called ‘the unread book’ and called Labour backbenchers ‘dunces’ who didn’t know what the last government was planning.
The Cameron Harman exchange was interesting. Harman had come armed with some classic follow-up questions using the details in the Red Book. Cameron didn’t want to engage on the detail, suggesting that Harman might have had a point. But his ability to attack Labour for having got the country into this mess allowed him to win the exchange on points quite comfortably. Bob Russell, a Lib Dem MP who said he may oppose the Budget yesterday, roared out three nil after Harman’s first three questions.
Answering questions, Cameron is cleverly working out how to dictate the pace of play. He knows when to do rage, when to do humour and when to slow things down. It’s a skill that Blair had, but Brown never mastered. So far, it looks like Cameron’s got it.
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Alex
June 23rd, 2010 2:04pm Report this commentAren't Cameron and Harman cousins by marriage? Perhaps they won't pull the gloves off in the same way that PMs and Opposition leaders who truly hate each other did. Then again, just because they're distantly related doesn't mean they have to like each other!
PY
June 23rd, 2010 2:13pm Report this commentActually he called them 'Dupes'.
sinosimon
June 23rd, 2010 2:34pm Report this commenthe called them dupes not dunces. and cameron didn't move on because he was pinned down by harman's follow up questions......but because he had answered them and harman didn't understand the answer. she asked a question implying the move to rate pensions against earnings would not help retired people because earnings are not expected to rise musch next year. cameron pointed out that because of the triple lock if this is the case then the pension will rise by a minimum of 2.5 %......harriet didn't understand this, so he refereed her to the table on page 41 of the red book which shows a total of approx £1.1 billion in increased expenditure on the pension payments in this parliament. harriet read only the first column of this and so misunderstood the figure to be zero.
so she embarassed herself two-fold.......
i picked this up from watching the pmq's, whilst eating a sarnie and surfing for rumours of the england team on the web.
you James are a professional journalist and semed to have missed all this. Are you going to give the speccie a rebate, or should we just accept this level of shoddy analysis?
sinosimon
June 23rd, 2010 2:55pm Report this commentsmall apology....apart from the hasty typos...it's page 48 not 41...but the rest stands!
David Martin
June 23rd, 2010 3:07pm Report this commentI watched only on 'parliamentlive.tv' while Mr Forsyth was perhaps in the press gallery, but my impression was quite opposite. Harmen came well prepared while Cameron indulged in what he always rightly criticised when he was leader of the opposition - Brown not making any attempt to answer the question while asking about the policies of the opposition party.
In 'Dave' mode, the PM has quickly got into the habit of mateyness. A question by the new member for Blackpool (a fatuous piece of battling practice, lobbing a non-question about 'how many members of the party opposite had apologised for the mess they left the country in') led to a fulsome welcome to this new statesman and some remarks about the town's successful football team. A badly asked question by a nervous young Tory prompted a patronising comment about her youthfulness and the profundity of her contribution.
But the most grisly aspect of all was the sight - very obvious on TV - of Nick Clegg nodding approval of the intellectually flaccid replies to Harman as if they were Churchillian pearls.
David Martin
June 23rd, 2010 3:40pm Report this commentCorrection: the nervous MP, Pamela Nash, is Labour not Tory. Dave's mates are everywhere.
Paddy
June 23rd, 2010 4:11pm Report this commentCameron is in his element.
The opposition are being shown up for what they are - a bunch of "chancers".
Where is the Rt Hon member for Kirkaldy.
Is he taking his salary and expenses. Is his Kirkaldy home his first or second.
He's obviously realised you have to pay for food in Morrisons.
Verity
June 23rd, 2010 4:33pm Report this commentI can't stand either one of them, so who gives a crap who won? It's like trying to umpire a fight between a flea and a tick. They're both bloodsuckers.
Dorothy Wilson
June 23rd, 2010 5:07pm Report this commentDavid Martin obviously watched a different PMQs than the one that came through on my telly.
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