Analysis: PMQs
Cameron is still not performing to the best of his ability
Wednesday, 19, Nov 2008 07:00
You can usually assess how unsettled Gordon Brown is by Conservative attacks by the number of times he stammers: "Oh yes, oh yes, Mr Speaker". It's a cruel observation, but an accurate one.
Today he did it only once, and it was an occasion which broke the rules. Because today Gordon Brown continued to make David Cameron suffer in ways we thought unthinkable a few months ago. Quite why he was reduced to a stammer was beyond me, or most observers.
Cameron tried to get the PM to admit he would have to raise taxes in the medium term to pay for spending now. Brown didn't. It's not the wisest tactic from Mr Cameron. The public know taxes will rise. And they know a politician would never admit it. It's just a given.
Today was just a warm up for the Pre-Budget Report. Yesterday's decision to detach the Tories from Labour spending plans had their long-term economic performance in one eye and the Report in the other. On Monday we'll have some idea of how well it's worked. Today there was some improvement – but it was only really visible in one phrase.
"On this side of the House we've made our choice. It's called spending restraint," Cameron said. It's nothing revolutionary, but it hints at a narrative the Tories can make their own by the time the next election rolls around. Sensible, trustworthy, moderate, and fixed on long-term goals rather than short-term political strategy. It could work, but it will need a slow-burning plan and careful application.
For the time being, Brown's endlessly repeated mantra that Labour want to "help people" while the Tories want to do nothing is looking effective. PMQs is reduced to soundbites on the news, where most people consume it. In terms of soundbites they will hear Cameron attacking the PM negatively, and the PM explaining how much he cares about the country. No contest.
It's not fair of course. The actual debate is about how to help people, not whether they should be helped or not. The Tory argument is simply that in the long term this is the wrong tactic. But nothing less can be expected of the prime minister. He is a politician after all, and a ruthlessly tribal one at that.
But there were indications today his party-political head was overruling his moral one. A Conservative backbencher asked why the pound was falling in value so quickly. Mr Brown basically accused him of being anti-British. That's a deeply unpleasant reaction which wasn't justified by the question. British democracy has a habit of avoiding that sort of language, which is prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic.
A Tory peer once told me proudly how no one had ever described anti-Falklands war MPs as anti-British during the conflict, and that it was a mark of the maturity of the British political system (and the more useful functions of having a non-political monarch). That's something to be proud of. Too much more of this language will put the British public off.
Later in the session Mr Cameron accused the prime minister of being more interested in the politics of the situation rather than the economics. It's that sort of attack on the Tories which gave the criticism a ring of accuracy. Mr Brown will need to turn this down or risk looking party-political during a crisis. The Tories were worried about this during the tail-end of the summer. They were right to be. Brown must now give it some consideration too, or risk losing his lead.
Ian Dunt