Cameron cross-questioned
Peter Hoskin 3:33pm
A quick post just to add the Guardian's interview with David Cameron to your Saturday reading list. It takes the unusual approach of
fielding questions to the PM from a range of ‘public figures’ — and, although many of those questions reduce down to ‘why aren't you giving more money to X?’, the
results are still generally engaging and occasionally insightful.
And so we learn, after an enquiry by The Spectator's own Toby Young, that Cameron doesn't keep a diary. And we also have the PM justifiying his stance on Europe to Nigel Farage; skipping over a question about what he may or may not have inhaled during his time at Eton; claiming that ‘not everything [Gordon Brown] did was wrong’; and more besides.
One question and answer stand out, at least so far as the current functioning of the coalition is concerned:
It's no surprise that Cameron should identify welfare reform and immigration as two areas where the Conservatives would be more radical on their own — he has said as much before. But what's slightly more surprising is that he wouldn't identify a third area, even when pressed. Not Europe, not prisons, not anything.Norman Lamont: ‘If there were no coalition and you were governing as a Conservative prime minister alone, what three things would you most like to have done that you have not been able to do in coalition?’David Cameron: ‘Further action on welfare reform. Perhaps the control of immigration. But I don't buy the argument that because it's a coalition it's an inactive government. It's a pretty rolled-up sleeves reforming government. [Guardian: And the third?] I thought two was enough.’
I suspect it's to do with the coalition's internal rules of engagement, and perhaps with the PM not wanting to admit weaknesses. If, for instance, he said that the Tories would do more to claw powers back from Europe, then he'd risk sounding resigned to not achieving that now. But you do wonder whether Cameron will seize more ruthlessly on such questions in one or two years time, as the election nears.
Previous
Publius
November 26th, 2011 4:00pm Report this comment"But you do wonder..."
No, I'm afraid I don't wonder. Why? Because I have given up on Cameron.
Tiberius
November 26th, 2011 4:26pm Report this comment‘not everything [Gordon Brown] did was wrong’.
He got married, had children, and (eventually) left Downing Street. That's all folks!
Wilhelm 1
November 26th, 2011 4:37pm Report this commentIt was a who's who of useful idiots, guilt ridden liberal twits and chinless wonders. Jon Snow, Kirsty Wark, Nicky Campbell asking dopey gotcha questions.
My favourite question was from black rapper Tinie Tempah
'' Does the prime minister go clubbing ? ''
RAP music stands for Retards Attempting Poetry.
Heartless Curmudgeon
November 26th, 2011 5:00pm Report this commentOh G*d!!!
What a concoction of meddlesome piffle (only someone 'off his perch' could find anything of benefit in the Great Economic Pretender, - except his ignominious departure, - and just look what arrived to replace him!)
Oh G*d help us!
Jeremy
November 26th, 2011 5:08pm Report this commentAdrian Chiles:
What's the most tedious thing about being PM?
"Waking up on Wednesday morning and realising it's prime minister's questions."
Jonathan Freedland:
Now you know the pressures of the job, and how hard it is, do you have sympathy for Gordon Brown and think perhaps you were too harsh in your treatment of him?
"I think in prime minister's questions and in political discourse we can sometimes get very rough and tough in the House of Commons. I don't ever feel I was tougher on Gordon Brown than he was on me. But I recognise that as prime minister he tried hard to do the right thing, as he saw it. And not everything he did was wrong."
One of the benefits of Prime Minister's Questions is that it allows the rest of us to see our political leaders in action and under pressure from questions which relate to matters that affect us all. PMQs also provides the rest of us with a very entertaining and occasionally dramatic spectacle, even if the current Prime Minister does find it "tedious".
Surely one of the benefits of the cut and thrust of parliamentary debate is that it produces articulate politicians - politicians who are capable of both thinking and speaking on their feet. It would be truly awful if we ended up with the same situation they have across the Atlantic, where candidates for the leadership of the United States cannot even articulate what they have already been briefed to say. So three cheers for Parliament, for parliamentary debate and for Prime Minister's Questions, say I.
Jeremy
November 26th, 2011 5:13pm Report this commentSteve Coogan:
The Daily Mail's silence during the hacking affair was deafening. If, as many suspect, Paul Dacre is found to be "up to his neck in it", will you please, please, please give him a "second chance" by making him your director of communications?
David Cameron:
"*laughs* I'd rather have Alan Partridge."
Interesting...
Herbert Thornton
November 26th, 2011 5:19pm Report this commentWhen a man has no principles and has already demonstrated that he is completely at ease with making a vitally important promise to the electorate and then breaking it - why should anything he says during an interview be treated as reliable or worth listening to?
Verity
November 26th, 2011 6:57pm Report this commentWhat Herbert Thornton said.
Why on earth waste time analyzing anything this manipulative, spiteful, charmisma-free tenth-rater says?
Verity
November 26th, 2011 7:02pm Report this commentJeremy, you appear not to be overly familiar with the US and only see the soundbites and the news that the BBC wants you to see, and only in presidential elections.
Some of the most articulate and eloquent people in the English language are American, and I include some American politicians ... and not all them Republicans ... in that statement.
Cynic
November 26th, 2011 8:40pm Report this comment@Tiberius "‘not everything [Gordon Brown] did was wrong’.
He got married, had children, and (eventually) left Downing Street. That's all folks!"
Not quite - he did keep us out of the euro. He may have done it for the wrong reasons (Blair wanted to take us in and El Gordo was determined to thwart him), but credit where credit is due. You see, I'm English and, much as I dislike Brown, I still believe in fair play.
Simon Stephenson.
November 26th, 2011 8:50pm Report this commentTiberius : 4.26pm
Re : Gordon Brown
"He got married, had children, and (eventually) left Downing Street. That's all folks!"
Oh I don't know. If you are a Socialist, you would be pleased that he also spent every waking hour working to make it more difficult for the free-market economy to survive, yet all the time claiming that his policies were intended to strengthen it. What an achievement to spend 13 years concealing his primary objective, without ever once coming close to letting the cat out of the bag.
RIB
November 26th, 2011 9:43pm Report this commentJust another chancer on the conveyor belt.
Cameron will be yet another forgotten by history Prime Minister.
disenfranchised
November 26th, 2011 9:51pm Report this commentdc "i thought two was enough".
hilarious, the man's a comedian as well.
who said toffs (and pms) were humourless twots?
Colin
November 26th, 2011 11:18pm Report this commentFrom "Chatshow" Chakrabarti to David (I used to be funny( Mitchell and virtually every high profile left wing, hypocritical idiot in UK, in between.
I though the Heir to Heath's put down of Dawkins was particularly good.
Tiberius
November 27th, 2011 11:11am Report this commentCynic: I cannot disgree with you.
arnoldo87
November 27th, 2011 11:29am Report this comment@ Polonius 8.50
"What an achievement to spend 13 years concealing his primary objective, without ever once coming close to letting the cat out of the bag."
Yes indeed - he fooled us all....... except you, oh gifted one.
And don't think we're not grateful.
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