It was the Iraq war that dominated prime minister’s questions today. Diane Abbott appeared regal in the House to ask a question on the inquiry and reminded us what a more representative parliament might look like. There were a lot of questions from the army of smarmy white men who populate the Tory benches and puff up their chests to ask particularly dull questions that they think might get them noticed by the top brass.
The war of attrition between David Cameron and Ed Miliband over whether the economy is better or people are worse off continued. Cameron bludgeoned us with statistics. In the end it was the Scots women members of parliament who came riding to the rescue.
There seems to be general agreement that Chilcot should publish his inquiry into the Iraq war. Miliband was clear to Cameron: ‘I agree with the prime minister, it should be published as soon as possible.’ Cameron agreed, though he could not help trying to blame Labour for the hold-up. He did not say, I hasten to add, it was Tony Blair’s fault, as the Father of the House, Peter Tapsell, maintained. He instead made the rather obscure point that if Labour had not voted against the proposal in the first place the inquiry would have taken place sooner and would have reported by now.
Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) joined the debate by rising to great applause. She almost bowed at the acclaim. Her rather convoluted point was we needed to get on with publication of the report. We should not delay it, because it would set a precedent with the child sexual abuse inquiries if prominent public figures were able to delay and delay inquiries because they did not like the findings.
Menzies Campbell, the former Liberal Democrat leader, said in his best self-important ‘I’m a member of the establishment and so I know’ voice that it was not any of the witnesses fault the inquiry had not been published, but that the cause was grave ill-health among the members. Not to be outdone Cameron said he well knew that the well-known Churchill biographer Martin Gilbert was ill.
It is hardly worth recounting the rather fruitless exchange between Miliband and Cameron. Cameron is not bothering to answer questions any more. He just launches attacks on Labour policy, trying to tear apart everything from promises on increases to the minimum wage to energy price freezes. And then when he is fed up of that he does personal abuse.
‘[Labour have] got a homes tax that has done the impossible and united the honorable member for Hackney with Peter Mandelson. Now, to be fair to the honorable gentleman (Miliband), we learnt at the weekend what he could achieve in one weekend in Doncaster, where he could not open the door, he was bullied by small children and he set the carpet on fire. Just imagine what a shambles he would make of the country.’
Cameron maintained in the process that the economy was getting better and Labour doomsayers about wages and employment were wrong.
Miliband said families are £1,600 worse off, and that families do not feel the benefit of the economy. He added: ‘You can work hard, you can play by the rules, but you can’t make ends meet under Cameron’s government.’ He also said that we are now living ‘a country of food banks and bankers bonuses.’ Working families, said Miliband, cannot afford another term of this government …
If Miliband needed proof of his argument that ordinary people were not feeling an economic recovery, a couple of his impressive Scottish women MPs provided it in simple style. Pamela Nash (Airdrie and Shotts) said that unemployment had risen in her constituency and that wages were going down. ‘Is the prime minister proud that the poor continue to get poorer and the rich richer?’
Gemma Doyle (West Dumbartonshire) declared: ‘West Dumbartonshire needs a pay rise.’ Why, she asked, has George Osborne promised a £7 national minumim wage and yet the government’s evidence to the low pay commission did not mention this.
Stephen Timms (East Ham) meanwhile asked the simplest question on the economy – to which there really is no answer which shows Cameron in a good light: ‘The prime minister said his policy would eradicate the deficit … What in his view is the reason that his plan has fallen so far short?’
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Sally Gimson is a journalist and Labour councillor in the London borough of Camden. She writes the PMQs on Progress column and tweets @SallyGimson