Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

As ‘long-term economic plan’ goes global, will Cameron have an easy PMQs?

How will Prime Minister’s Questions go today? Both party leaders have had to deal with troublesome MPs this week, with Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind both falling prey to the Dispatches/Telegraph sting. But Ed Miliband may feel that he can continue his theme of cracking down on paid directorships and consultancies, which Labour is running an Opposition Day debate on later today. Rifkind’s response to the sting also dug him into a deeper hole than Straw, who decided rather wisely to talk about what a fool he’d been not to take the advice he had so kindly doled out to colleagues who’d been caught by the same sorts of operations in the past. But David Cameron will doubtless be very keen to bring the debate back to the economy, quoting the head of the OECD Angel Gurria who said yesterday that Britain was a ‘textbook’ example of how to recover from an economic crisis. The remarks were overshadowed by the Rifkind row, but Gurria also, strikingly, said that George Osborne deserved a ‘pat on the back’ and that Britain should stick to its long-term economic plan:

‘Well done so far, Chancellor. But finish the job. Britain has a long-term economic plan, but it needs to stick to it.’

Lynton Crosby must be thrilled that ‘long-term economic plan’ has gone global and that independent economists are happy to use it as a term. Crosby was less-than-thrilled with Rifkind sticking around even for the comparatively brief amount of time that he did between the revelations hitting the press and his resignation and was one of the voices urging his departure. Cameron will hope he has removed this particular barnacle in time to be on the offensive, rather than the defensive, at PMQs.

The era of stable government is over

lpJoin us on 23 March for a Spectator discussion on whether the era of stable government is over with Matthew Parris, James Forsyth, Jeremy Browne MP, Vernon Bogdanor and Matthew Goodwin. The event will be chaired by Andrew Neil. In association with Seven Investment Management. For tickets and further information click here.

Comments