Silent Hunter's PMQs Thread

[Silent Hunter]

12 March

Bit of a weird one today. Beef for example- I'd just had Argentine corned beef for lunch before watching this.

Boris Johnson's first question that I can recall, having earlier been attacked by the PM.

The Darfur issue turned up quite a bit. While this is ultimately going to need peace talks, can't a no-fly zone be set up now? Does the USN have a carrier group to spare? It may not be total coverage, but it would do something.

The question on conscience votes was very odd. Cameron's perfectly capable of allowing a free vote for his own party- he doesn't need the PM to authorise it at all.

Elfyn Llwyd. Sorry, mate, I'm not going to take your party, or indeed much of the left, seriously on foreign policy, until you show an actual willingness to protest against Bulava as well as Trident.

What is Nick Clegg doing unilaterally vis party donations?

[Silent Hunter]

19 March 2008

Not a good one for David Cameron at all. Tibet one was reasonable. Then he wasted the next question with a mere congratulations.

The next four were just poor. I've said it before that if Cameron wants to give his party a free vote, the PM's not stopping him.

ID cards- exact rehash. It may not be "Opposition Leader's Question Time" (Personally I think that'd be a good idea ), but going on about it isn't going to help at all.

The spin doctors one, just weak. I make decisions based on the evidence and after careful consideration, as does the PM- not across the Commons chamber.

The A-Levels was an exact repeat and his logic doesn't stand up to scrutiny, IMO (An abolition of A-Levels, if one is announced, wouldn't take place until 2015, if not later and I don't think parents are thinking about A-Levels just yet).

Clegg's got a point on the Gurkhas- although there's a logic to the argument against it, there's a good case for the automatic citizenship thing.

Iraq- standard question, standard response. Could have been done much better.

Post Offices- while I regularly have to queue at my Post Office (not on the closure list), it's not the case everywhere. You got a better idea to make the Post Office profitable, I'd like to hear it.

Not that many Labour softies today. Surprising, but somewhat pleasant.

Brown dodged a lot, but did actually answer some.

[afleitch]

Harriet Harman is taking PMQ's on Wednesday.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Harriet Harman is taking PMQ's on Wednesday.

Who's doing ours?


Hague Please? Or does it go to someone automatically?

[afleitch]

Harriet Harman is taking PMQ's on Wednesday.

Who's doing ours?


Hague Please? Or does it go to someone automatically?

As far as I know it's Hague.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Harriet Harman is taking PMQ's on Wednesday.

Who's doing ours?


Hague Please? Or does it go to someone automatically?

As far as I know it's Hague.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


I hope he takes that ugly feminist Bitch down.

[Silent Hunter]

26 March 2008

Cameron's lost was on the economy. Since this isn't an area I know much about, I can't really discuss it in massive depth. The two leaders threw facts at each other, but I'd have to say advantage Cameron.

Anyone got a graph of interest rates since the war?

Clegg's was on home repossession, another subject I'm not familiar with either.

Thoughts on the rest:
* Bob Spink has clearly lost any loyalty he had to the Tories.
* Why can't the Tories get control of their councils and make them half-way competent (including mine)
* No-one commented on Mrs Sarkozy, but that's really not a relevant topic anyway.
* I still don't see the Speaker bias against the Tories.
* OK, Brown dodged a lot there.
* Only one questioner mentioned the Fertility Bill- and that was Paisley, who didn't want abortion for NI through the back door. What's the current status vis Labour voting?

[Silent Hunter]

2 April 2008

Harman's first go at this. For some reason, Hague (a guy with more experience at this thing) took  Theresa May's role, which meant that we didn't get another first.

Harman wasn't that good at all. Brown does this far better. Hague's years of experience meant he beat Harman, albeit with inaccurate facts.

Cable got his first question rejected for not being relevant, but shouldn't he have got another one. He only asked one in the end.

Not much else of note.

[afleitch]

I thought Harriet performed well. It was a more robust performance from Harriet than from Brown (Brown is carried through PMQ's by a subservient backbench)

No score draw.

[Silent Hunter]

23 April 2008

Most of this was on the 10p issue- although I note the Labour benches weren't really mentioning it.

Cameron, to use his own rhetoric style, is a one-trick pony in a three-trick minimum circus. He spent virtually all his time attacking Brown, the U-turn (let's be honest, it was) and not proposing anything of his own. Nice on Brown to call the contradiction on Tory policy. He's all style and rhetoric, but no substance.

Have the Tories got a finalised tax policy on-line, or is £10 bn just the idea of some think-tank?

Clegg wasn't much better in that regard.

Rest was largely a non-event. Fallon on emergency services (how old is he?), Zimbabwe, Army Cadets.

Advantage Brown, slightly.

[afleitch]

Advantage Brown, slightly.

Easy Cameron victory.

[Silent Hunter]

30 April 2008

David Cameron says he hasn't been able to end "Punch and Judy politics". He hasn't even tried. Virtually every question of his was a direct attack on the divisions in the Labour Party or the Prime Minister himself. The same applied for the Tory backbenchers.

If they're like this in opposition, I wonder what they'll be like in government.

Vote Labour!

[The Man From G.O.P.]

30 April 2008

David Cameron says he hasn't been able to end "Punch and Judy politics". He hasn't even tried. Virtually every question of his was a direct attack on the divisions in the Labour Party or the Prime Minister himself. The same applied for the Tory backbenchers.

If they're like this in opposition, I wonder what they'll be like in government.

Vote Labour!

Don't let the door hit you on the way out....

[Silent Hunter]

7 May 2008

The Tory "Punch and Judy" stuff continues...

Cameron won that exchange with Brown, but hopefully his lack of substance will become clear soon. I still don't know what he would do about 10p, but he refused to say he would restore that band to a guy in Crewe.

Brown dodged Clegg's second, but the Lib Dems have the same problem as the Tories here.

Llywd's question was pointless, it wasn't really nice to shout down Gilroy before she'd said a word and there were the usual bunch of Labour softies.

When does Boris Johnson take the Baliff of the Chiltern Hundreds position (or the other one) and leave the Commons?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Llwyd is pointless full stop.

[afleitch]

Cameron won that exchange with Brown, but hopefully his lack of substance will become clear soon.

I think Brown is in danger of falling into the Tories trap; he wishes to emphasise his experience and substance, as opposed to Cameron's 'salesmanship.' The fundamental flaw is that if people don't like the substance, the more you emphasise it, the more you stick to it, the more the 'substance' damages you. I happen to believe that Brown's problem is that he doesn't have substance; that he is and always was an 'empty vessel'. So much about Gordon Brown; conviction, prudence, steady hand etc had been assumed, rather than tested and people fell for it. The only one who still is, is Gordon himself.

Cruddas was right; Cameron may be 'lightweight' (again I disagree with that) but he is lightfooted. He's talking about community, and family and togetherness and compromise and change. He's using 'Labour' language and talking about 'Labour' issues (and he's leading on them) Brown's still stick on the 'here's my record' stat-barrage and it's just not working. People don't want to be lectured.

[Silent Hunter]

14 May 2008

The "Punch and Judy" politics continue...

Brown isn't being straight, I agree. David Cameron isn't either- I can't recall many exact Tory policies.

Burma was interesting. Brown's point about air-dropping is a very valid one. That and if the Burmese lob a missile at an aid plane, things turn very nasty.

The guy asking about Crewe and Nantwich should have put that down as a written question- the   few word response was inevitable and he could have done a follow-up.

Clegg is too loud when he's doing things.

"History lesson"? As long as the economic adviser to Norman Lamont leads the Tories and shows no sign of contrition for three million unemployed (he hasn't, IIRC), then we're entitled to raise it.

[Silent Hunter]

21 May 2008

Cameron is like Shane Warne, only without the actual delivery.

Clegg fails on defence.

Skinner continues to be a funny Tory-basher.

[Silent Hunter]

4 June 2008

No point denying it, Brown v. Cameron was a complete victory for the latter. Brown's performance was bad even by his own standards.

That said, Cameron still remains a used-car salesman, I still can't remember a single distinctive policy of his and his "replace family tax with green taxes" thing not only doesn't add up, it doesn't provide an incentive to reduce carbon use.

Brown got better from then on in, starting from a very low base.

Boris Johnson's final question was a bit exuberant and I worry about any possible gaffes from that guy as Mayor of London.

"Trivia Tories" count- 2. There is no place for this. Ask a relevant policy question or don't ask anything at all. Labour-bash on policy, not people.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I listend to a bit of that on the radio. They just seemed to be yelling at each other. Off the radio went.

[afleitch]

4 June 2008
That said, Cameron still remains a used-car salesman

I would of course disagree. Even if I did agree I would say 'at least he's selling something' The other guy hasn't even opened up shop!

[Silent Hunter]

For Britons, is the bashing of Brown based on racism on his Scottishness. Is it possible to sound smooth and still be a Scot.

To a certain extent for some people, yes. It's a dislike of the "Scottish mafia" in the Cabinet and a feeling that England is getting a raw deal.

[Silent Hunter]

11 June 2008

A tad more civilised this time, with much focussing on the 42-day debate that would follow.

Trivia Tory: Greg Hands, Hammersmith and Fulham.

Brown dodged the question on Afghanistan. He could have mentioned some of the problems there.

Cameron's comment that he understands the threat of terrorism because people he knew were killed by the IRA sounds like opportunism. It makes his argument sound weaker, IMO.

Clegg was largely forgettable.

Brown shouldn't have kept mentioning the security services after Jowell said they hadn't specifically asked for 42 days.

Nothing much else stood out.

[Hash]

I listend to a bit of that on the radio. They just seemed to be yelling at each other. Off the radio went.

Like when I attempted to listen to CPAC?

[Silent Hunter]

18 June 2008

A fairly sedate affair, at least noise wise.

Brown and Cameron's quiet exchanges on Afghanistan were appropriate given the subject.

Clegg/Brown was the same old "Why don't you do this?" "We're already doing it" thing I've heard before.

Much of the topic was on Europe. A case of more insult-trading than light. I think Cameron was looking for "jelly" rather than "jellyfish"- as someone pointed out, jellyfish have poisonous stings. IMO, we should try and negotiate another treaty, with opt-outs as need be.

Zimbabwe also featured. Brown managed to confuse the Security Council with the Secretary-General, so his answer was meaningless.

Cameron did well, Brown did well. Slight advantage Cameron.

No Trivia Tories this week, although the "strikes" question came close.