PMQs: How much does the union row hurt Labour?
Traditional roles were reversed at today’s PMQs. Cameron pulled the ingenious trick of almost entirely ignoring what Ed Miliband asked (it was about school places). He attacked instead on the news that...
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PMQs: Tories go into conference season in best spirits
This brief stint when parliament returns from its summer break only to depart again two weeks later for party conferences is a slightly strange innovation. Its main purpose is to help the government...
View ArticlePMQs: Miliband calls for an end to shareholder-is-king model
At his 2011 conference speech, Ed Miliband argued there were two kinds of business: “predators” and “producers”. The speech was not well received, not least because the bluntness of the message was not...
View ArticlePMQs: Cameron is fighting on Miliband’s turf
In the wake of the Labour party conference, hacks returned from Brighton with one question for Tory advisers: how will you counter Ed Miliband’s energy price freeze? We won’t, came the reply. We don’t...
View ArticlePMQs: Labour’s all-round ill discipline
A rather strange and fractious PMQs today. Amid much gnashing of teeth about the allegations surrounding Paul Flowers, the former chair of the Co-Op bank, and his links to Labour, Ed Miliband set off...
View ArticlePMQs: Ed Miliband should be on a high, but isn’t
Last week, Ed Miliband was beaten by the prime minister after failing to build a clear narrative from his rather scattergun questions. This week he was more disciplined, and had a clear and coherent...
View ArticlePMQs: Cameron raids his joke drawer to stuff Ed
The last PMQs before a recess is always important for doing what the session is really designed for: crystallising the mood of each side of the House. Tomorrow MPs will head off to their constituencies...
View ArticleWhat’s the point of a quiet PMQs?
Today’s PMQs was striking, but not particularly interesting.Ed Miliband decided to split his questions (always a recipe for taking some of the heat out). His first set were focused on the response to...
View ArticlePMQs: Cameron breaks the truce – and wins
Last week, we reported on the suggestion by the BBC’s Nick Robinson that a truce had been agreed by Ed Miliband and David Cameron not to let PMQs descend into a slanging match. Certainly in the first...
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PMQs: Cameron discovers the joy of spending
The prime minister surprised the Westminster press corps yesterday when he held a press conference to spell out his action to tackle flooding. It wasn’t just the press conference that surprised – it...
View ArticlePMQs: Labour are missing the real story of the reshuffle
The FT, the Guardian, the Mail and the Independent all agreed this morning; the reshuffle was David Cameron’s turn to the right. In came Chris Grayling, out went Ken Clarke. In came Owen Paterson to...
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PMQs: Ed shows how difficult it is for Labour to outflank the Tories on Europe
If Labour wanted evidence of how difficult they will find it to outflank the Tories on Europe, it was there for them today during prime minister’s questions. This afternoon’s debate, during which Tory...
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PMQs: Noteless Nick unites the coalition
Nick Clegg always has a hard time taking over from the prime minister at PMQs. Without the vocal support of hundreds of his own MPs behind him, he can often be left looking helpless at the mercy of...
View ArticlePMQs: Ed Miliband’s attacks on the PM’s anger spoil his rhythm
Ed Miliband chose not to ask David Cameron about the Leveson report today, which has arrived on the PM’s desk, but not the Labour leader’s. It would have been tempting for Miliband to try and force...
View ArticlePMQs: Cameron loses first battle in war over Europe
Douglas Alexander was touring television studios this morning explaining why he thought holding a referendum on Britain’s EU membership was a bad idea. After months of toying with the idea of copying...
View ArticleCameron unites his party on Europe
Two big questions remained after David Cameron’s landmark speech on Britain’s role in Europe this morning: would it do enough to please his eurosceptic backbenchers, and how would Ed Miliband respond?...
View ArticlePMQs: Miliband argues for “good borrowing”
Today’s exchanges at PMQs sounded fairly hackneyed and well-worn. Ed Miliband chose to ask about the economy, and the usual argument took place – the Labour leader accused the coalition of stifling...
View ArticlePMQs: Miliband had all the ingredients and made Cameron mincemeat
Sometimes when a leader of the opposition has a lot of different attacks to make on a prime minister at PMQs, they try to spread themselves too thinly and end up not hitting home with any of their...
View ArticlePMQs: Miliband is relying on an NHS crisis
Over lunch recently, a Labour strategist spelled out the terms of the next election in the starkest terms. “They want to fight it on welfare,” he explained. “We want to fight on the NHS.” So despite...
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PMQs: Clegg shows some leg on Europe
As a fellow hack remarked to me on the way out of the Commons chamber after PMQs this week, imagine if it had been the other way round. Imagine that David Cameron had not been in New York and had been...
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