Who won:
Luke Akehurst: Cameron was very flat today. Definite win for the PM. Cameron’s focus on a technical Treasury issue – “dividend tax credits” – will have gone over the heads of most voters.
The Tories failed to get any capital out of the Byers/Hoon/Hewitt debacle. Cameron avoided it and backbencher Mark Pritchard scored an own goal as the PM said “standards for appointing peers in the future will be a lot higher than those that applied to Lord Ashcroft”.
Conor Ryan: A very low-key pre-budget PMQs. David Cameron was trying to find a way to pin the poor public finances on Gordon Brown, so he latched on to two hoary favourites in his supporters’ armoury, the selloff of gold and pension dividends. While it may have helped highlight the issues, it didn’t really work at PMQs, and Gordon was sharp in his responses, particularly his litany of Tory economic failures which needs repetition as the election approaches. So he was the winner on this occasion, though it may matter little outside the House today. Such a low key exchanges reflects the fact that the budget will dominate news bulletins later, and Cameron wants to keep Tory powder dry. Cameron avoided mentioning the Byers sting, apart from an aside about cabs, but Nick Clegg’s attempts at being holier than thou on lobbying were undermined by shouts of ‘Michael Brown’ and the PM’s urging of ‘humility on all sides'”
Rachel Reeves: Cameron’s choice to focus his questions on the gold reserves seemed a very bizarre choice. By focussing on a decision made ten years ago again portrays the Tories as having nothing to say about the future of the British economy.
By contrast, Gordon Brown took the chance to remind the House that the unemployment claimant count today is ½ what it was in the 1990s and that today we have 500,000 more people in work that economists had forecast. The success in staving the increase in unemployment gives Alistair Darling a bit more room for manoeuvre this afternoon.
Clegg also did a good job against a difficult backdrop of heckling. Right to raise the issue of lobbying and the disgraceful behaviour of former ministers, however, the Lib Dems are a bit disingenuous when they try to take the moral high ground on all issues…
Best backbencher:
LA: The Labour backbenchers were very well coordinated today, with a string of pertinent questions on the key election issues of the economy and public services – particularly Nigel Griffiths and George Howarth on unemployment and Patrick Hall on the importance of universal access to SureStart.
CR: Most backbench contributions were pretty predictable. There were several efforts to highlight Tory cuts on Sure Start and employment programmes. But two Labour MPs stood out for soberly raising issues that rose above the partisan fray: Helen Southworth on missing children and Sandra Osbourne on the banning of methadrone, where one of her constituents has been a victim. Julian Lewis had the sharpest Tory question, praising an expansion of mental health services under Blair, but suggesting that some units in his constituency had been replaced by a ‘dashboard of clinical performance quality indicators’. Unfortunately, there is rather too much of this sort of gobbledegook around in the public sector today.
RR: Fraser Kemp about jobs at Nissan. The success of Peter Mandelson at securing this huge investment in the North East is an excellent example of Labour’s Going for Growth strategy. Zero emission car production combines Labour’s vision for a low carbon economy, new technology, jobs and growth. This should also be the focus of this afternoon’s budget too.
Best joke or comment:
LA: Clegg managed to score a hit on the lobbygate scandal with “this parliament will go down as the most corrupt in living memory because they both blocked reform”.
Cameron’s joke about his wife’s pregnancy was the best moment of humour: he said he had received text messages “focussing on how you find the time for these things”.
CR: Most poignant intervention came from a quieter and more reflective Ian Paisley than when he entered the House, who offered some apt reflections on the impact of war on families as his last intervention as an MP, attracting a generous tribute for the former NI first minister from Gordon Brown.
RR: Another good question was from Patrick Hall on Sure Start centres, reminding voters that cutting back Sure Start from being a universal service would be a hugely retrograde step.
Ridiculous question about peerages from Tory backbencher – this was a stupid question which gave GB another opportunity to mention the ghastly Lord Ashcroft and connect the Tories with sleaze and also with being totally disconnected with the experiences of the vast majority of voters.