Yesterday's PMQ was very instructive. While commentators focused on the fact that Ed Miliband split his 6 questions into two groups ( just like Michel Howard, but unlike Tony, we are told) nothing seems to have been noted about his effectiveness beyond a grudging, he was OK.
If you have a chance to reprise the event and make a closer analysis, note how Cameron's responses, when he is pressed for an answer, quickly turn to a form of repetitive and bullying attack. There is no doubt that Cameron, if things are not going to plan, is always prepared to turn any encounter into a form of verbal barrage in an attempt to unsettle his opponent and to embed some sound bites into journalist's copy. He did this very effectively with Gordon Brown. The latter portrayed as a bully himself was mercilessly bullied by Cameron at every opportunity.
But of course Cameron is only using a public relations script delivered at top voice. In this way Cameron hides his ignorance of detail. Douglas Alexander Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said following Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, how Cameron, after a word in his ear from his Chancellor, got it flat wrong at yesterdays PMQ.
“He was asked about his own government’s plans to cut mobility support for people in care homes but confused it with separate reforms he is proposing to the Disability Living Allowance. “It is clear that neither the Chancellor or the Prime Minister understand either the detail of their own plans or the impact of these changes."He also depends on Tory stooges who set him up for the delivery of scripted soundbites.
Miliband did very well asking sharp questions about school sports provision and banker's salaries. However, given the opportunity, he could have responded to one Cameron jibe about his role with Gordon Brown, with more force and clarity about Cameron's own role as a political adviser at Norman Lamont's side throughout Black Wednesday in 1992, which saw the pound crash out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
It is time that the discontents in Labour's parliamentary party take more responsibility and focus on the real enemy. It is not the time to deliver policy statements only to feed Tory soundbites but to reveal simply and directly the story that this government is writing, and the market driven ideology that underpins, and is a cloak for, the cuts and changes in health, education and welfare. Read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein to get the full flavour.
Cameron is not worth listening to because he has nothing to say. Osbourne, Gove, Landsley have a free hand and Cameron is their PR. Treat him as such, an front man, irrelevant to the real issues and attack the neo-conservatives in Government who are doing the real damage. Maybe there are some LibDems who feel the same, but Simon Hughes is your party really worth saving while everything worth having is fed to the lions of privatisation?
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