Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Brown faces the brickbats in PMQs<br />

Impressions, rather than substance, dominated today’s PMQs. With the Brown premiership downgraded from stable to critical over the weekend, this could have been a career-terminating ordeal for the soggy-eyed old panda but he got through it pretty well. By the end he was still confidently afloat, if not quite buoyant.

Cameron raised the question of Brown’s authority. Brown counter-attacked. Why didn’t Cameron ask about policy rather than reducing everything ‘to personality’? Cameron insisted that Brown himself was the issue. Quoting long and embarrassing chunks from Hazel Blears’s weekend tirade he asked, ‘Why’s she still in the cabinet? His government simply cannot go on.’ The PM accused the Tories of being unable to tackle big decisions, and Cameron hit back with a list of recent judgments revised by Downing Street. On they went, pinging the ball to and fro. Brown argued that Cameron had reneged on his vow to stick to Labour spending plans. ‘Compassionate conservatism?’ he bellowed, ‘it’s gone, gone, gone.’ Cameron paused for a moment. ‘I’m sure that sounded great in the bunker, while the mobile phones were flying.’ He used up both his final questions urging Brown to go to the country. ‘Do the last bold thing left to him. Call an election.’ This was forcefully put but it gave Brown an opportunity to observe that Cameron had failed to debate the issues and to deduce from that, illogically yet somehow credibly, that the Tory leader was therefore unfit for office.

Brown’s backbenchers rushed to bolster his position. If this is a Labour panic, it’s very well organised. Toady after toady stood up and croaked a question about Labour regeneration, Labour investment, Labour apprenticeships. Brown happily took his cue and reeled off his usual lists of assistance schemes and relief packages.

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