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PMQs - The Verdict
Edward Davie
For the third PMQs in a row David Cameron donned his green tie.
I know the Notting Hill Set have studied the 'unfinished revolution' - Philip Gould's handbook on New Labour's rise - but does repetition of a tie constitute being consistently 'on message'?
Blair, on the other hand, knew the real meaning of the strategy as he repeatedly castigated both Tories and the Lib Dems for voting against - what he considers to be - tough measures against criminality, low public service investment and poverty.
The prime minister's relentlessness was like Gordon Brown on the Today programme - when he has something to say he will say it again and again regardless of what is asked.
Cameron opened with a distinctly croaky voice, more Iain Duncan Smith than William Hague, who was sat to his right and had previously advised drinking a 10-sugared tea to line the larynx before taking to the despatch box.
His question on knife crime was diffuse and, frankly, failed to land any kind of blow.
Cameron then followed up with a question on the end of embarkation controls which, as former foreign secretary Jack Straw informed Blair whilst the question was being asked, was initiated by the last Tory government.
In response to major haranguing from the Labour backbenches the speaker said cuttingly - for the leader of the opposition: "Being wrong does not deny you the right to speak in this House," to much hilarity.
Blair then made a Freudian slip - accidentally saying "toff measures" as opposed to "tough measures", his estuary vowels, to be heard during his Radio Five Live football performance, disappearing.
It was actually a brilliant joust between Cameron, who really is getting better at this, and a prime minister who is an expert at deflecting questions in this arena.
The fun ended when Cameron had used up his questions and the whole House called for "more". Cameron theatrically counted his six fingers and resignedly shrugged.
Sir Menzies Campbell, despite raising his game in recent weeks, was no match for this competition.
Ditching the script is one thing but just asking the shortest possible question you can annunciate is not really a substitute for holding the prime minister to account.
Blair demolished him by reminding him that the Lib Dems had voted against anti-social behaviour orders - amongst other things. There is only one thing that Labour backbenchers like more than bashing Tories - it's bashing Lib Dems.
But the worst question of the day award went to David Burrowes, a Labour backbencher who asked the whips' plant, one that they have tried repeatedly, of asking about the Tories' potential new EU partners now they are trying to escape the EPP group.
He fluffed his lines and left Hague laughing - mainly because he knows he has to sort out the mess that is the Conservative European policy.
The verdict
Blair: 8/10 - Not Argentina but just about Brazil.
Cameron: 7/10 - Spain or, possibly, Holland.
Sir Menzies Campbell: 5/10 - France.
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Published: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:29:44 GMT+01
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