PMQs - The Verdict
Wednesday 21st May 2008 at 12:12 AM
Any Americans watching the event for the first time this week might well wonder what the fuss is about.
With the chamber less than full, the three party leaders spent much of the time exchanging calm, consensual statements on international events.
It is telling that the highlight for many in the chamber seemed to be the prime minister's failed attempt to pronounce al-Qaeda in any of the usual ways.
Last month Gordon Brown was having difficulty with the Dalai Lama, (Dial-eye Lama) , but seems to have cracked it in time for the exiled spiritual leader's visit to Westminster.
This week Nick Clegg's question about Afghanistan gave him the opportunity to remind everyone that Britain is involved in a battle against "alky Ada", and "those who want to bring alky Ada back into power".
The first part of the session was dominated by questions about the crises in Burma and China, with a question from Labour backbencher Kevan Jones and then from David Cameron.
The Conservative leader did not differ much from the prime minister, asking him about the possibility of direct aid to cyclone-hit Burma and then agreeing with Brown's assessment that the best way to deliver aid was through Asian neighbours.
Cameron then went straight to the big domestic issue hanging over Westminster - the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, where the scrapping of the 10p income tax rate has reportedly been playing big.
He quoted a report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies which showed that the government's rescue package means 18 million families will be worse off when the temporary tax concessions expire.
The battle between the two leaders was all about who represents lower income families, a phrase which appeared repeatedly.
Brown accused the Tories of offering tax cuts for the rich through corporation tax and inheritance tax changes, while Cameron said Labour would "never again be taken seriously as the party of low and middle income families".
With the Tories riding high in the polls, Labour's strategy is to try to pin them down on policy. Brown repeatedly tried to turn the point back to the Conservatives and seemed to be warning that Cameron would not always benefit from a favourable wind when he mangled Abraham Lincoln: "He can get by without substance for some of the time, but he'll never get by without substance all of the time."
Brown may be planning for a long siege, but Cameron obviously thinks he is close to storming the palace - he said the prime minister had retreated to his bunker, and tried to make him look cowardly for not visiting the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.
Brown might have succeeded in making him look petty when he pointed out that by tradition, prime ministers do not attend by-elections, had not Cameron produced a precision riposte in the form of a quote from Tony Blair, who said he wanted to "lead from the front" at the Uxbridge by-election in May 1997.
The Verdict
Gordon Brown - 5/10 - Not quite retreating to the bunker, Brown is at least dogged at the despatch box
David Cameron - 6/10 - Served up a mix of the statesmanlike and the knockabout
Nick Clegg - 5/10 - Questions on Afghanistan gave Brown little difficulty
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