Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions stoops to a new low

An appearance from ageing rocker Gene Simmons from KISS, watching from behind his dark glasses in the gallery, was one of the few highlights from today’s stand-in session of deputy Prime Minister’s Questions. This session wasn’t so much glam rock as it was rock bottom boring. Oliver Dowden and Angela Rayner had written a list of stock jokes and attacks that both were very keen indeed to use, regardless of the questions or answers they were actually dealing with.

There was a supportive question in the opening by Tory MP David Johnston about reading standards and Labour party policy. This allowed Dowden to celebrate the recent news that England was now in the top five international rankings for reading in primary schools. The Tories were caught rather on the hop about this at the time, having almost forgotten that one thing they really have managed to do in more than a decade of turmoil is reform schools and drive up standards.