No, not security fears over the royal nuptials, but Ed Miliband and his fiancée Justine Thornton who have agreed to tie the knot on 27 May, speculation has already started on the destination for their honeymoon and if last week’s budget response is anything to go by, skiing is certainly off the agenda.
So, who won? This is normally a very difficult question to answer; PMQs are almost always score draws and so the result depends on which party’s rose-tinted spectacles you watch through. Ed Miliband wins on substance, David Cameron usually has the sharp wit and quick ripostes to deflect any glancing blows and leave Ed looking slightly silly – not today!
Today’s PMQs was high paced, high drama and highly entertaining. Ed Miliband came out as a clear winner. His questions on Libya, tuition fees and police numbers were well targeted and relevant. Disco Dave was unable to dance his way around them and his reference to Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a Dream’ was clearly the last act of a desperate man. He didn’t know his figures, and was shaky when coming on the offensive; he did not look in control at the dispatch box.
Today was very promising from a Labour perspective. The prime minister even had to resort to cheap personal attacks on Ed Balls in a futile attempt to provide his backbenchers with some source of hope from an otherwise feeble display. Amusing jokes but transparent nonetheless.
The best backbencher question came from Chris Williamson who drew our attention to the catastrophic cuts which aren’t widely known. The government have drastically reduced the winter fuel allowance which is another example of their systematic targeting of the most vulnerable in society – along with Margaret Ritchie highlighting the DLA ‘reforms’ – and for obvious reasons they have done their upmost to keep it under the radar. The question needed to be asked, if for no other reason than to draw attention to the issue.
However, he also asked the prime minister to apologise for accusations the PM allegedly made before the election. This was his fatal error and was the source of the best joke of the day. David Cameron replied with an almost icy coolness which was uncharacteristic of the rest of his performance – ‘I wouldn’t have made those remarks before the election because I have no idea who you are’ – Ouch!
hhhmmmmnnn well Cam. has no idea who any of us are really does he.
Cameron lost his cool, again. Well done Eds. Cameron’s ongoing weakness is his petulance having to deal with these tiresome representatives of people not fit to kiss the Toff’s feet. The next PMQs should contain the question: “Are you going to answer the questions I am going to put to you?” Let’s see how Toffy boy wriggles out of that!
Dear pwime minister/my mummy says you are a toffee/When I grow up I want to be just like you /Then I can eat myself,that will be less ‘spensive/ Save muny on sweetie paper/And be nice and chewy,is it nice being chewy?/How are you going to turn into new toffies every time? / Daddy says it’s called growth/Do you chew on that? is it called a problem? love from your friend Niggle. X
mummy says I spelt it wrong,it should be : fiend.
For god sake what is the difference between your so called toff in Cameron and the Toff in Miliband, both talk like he has a plum in his mouth, both are talking about cuts of £85 billion like it’s pennies. Come off it, to day tomorrow the people at the bottom will suffer whom ever wins.
but the whole point of Labour is to not let that happen Fred . Because a person has an education doesn’t make them a grasping get rich quick dupe of the get rich quicker bigger business bods who only use the Country for their own ends and stuff the proceeds in any Tax haven overseas .Growth was curtailed by unforseen ROBBERY ,these ‘exploiters’ came up against a brick wall and our (perfectly normal ) borrowings were outstripped,all borrowing is normal practice,borrowing and investment,that is essentially what shareholding is.Its just that in this case the Tax payer was not a shareholder at the top end of the domino effect of ’08 but in order to protect all those who were the banks had to be bailed out.Growth stopped, industry stalled and investment became scarce here but business could easily move their investments overseas where growth is flourishing (for now) The Labour party exists to offset capitalism and look out for those in its wake ,always did always will .
the ‘people at the bottom’ suffer because of unbridled capitalism.