Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Brown gets through PMQs smiling

After a nifty performance last week, Dave displayed lots of sluggish footwork today. Everyone was desperate for him to nail Brown over his ‘British jobs for British workers’ gaffe but instead Dave opened by asking the PM to condemn international protectionism. An easy shot, safely dealt with by Brown.

What was Dave playing at? The TV news is teeming with ‘winter of discontent’ style images showing crowds of indignant workers braving the blizzards to demonstrate their anger against the PM. And the Tory leader doesn’t mention it? Eventually, on his third question, Dave finally stirred himself to ask Brown to admit that BJ4BW had been a mistake and to apologise. Brown wriggled and squirmed. ‘Can anybody here say they don’t want British workers to get jobs in our country?’ Then he settled back into his comfort-zone rhetoric about the global nature of the crisis and his government’s investment in jobs which the ‘do-nothing’ Tories had opposed.

Evasive and defensive as this was, Dave seemed unprepared for it. Rather than opening up a fresh line of attack he repeated his demand for the PM to eat humble pie. Brown (unruffled): ‘I’ve already said it’s our duty to get British workers the skills they need.’ No apology, of course. So why ask for it twice over? Dave often sends good money after bad like this. His approach lacks variety or surprise and he never breaks things up by withholding two or three questions until later in the session. If nothing else this would discomfort the PM and make him wonder what incoming tomatoes were about to splat him in the face.

Tory strategists seem to have decided that the way to deal with the ‘do-nothing’ slur is to ‘do-nothing’ about it.

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