Williams plays down Ming's poor PMQs

Senior Lib Dem says it does not matter if Menzies Campbell is not good at PMQs

Wednesday, 12, Apr 2006 12:00

A senior Liberal Democrat has today admitted the party's new leader, Menzies Campbell, has yet to make a major impact during prime minister's questions.

Baroness Williams is a firm supporter of Sir Menzies, but acknowledged that he is "not performing absolutely brilliantly" in the weekly banter session in the Commons.

Her comments come after Lib Dem president Simon Hughes, who stood against Sir Menzies for the leadership, accepted media criticism that the Scot showed "nervousness" when he stood up to face Tony Blair across the chamber.

However, Baroness Williams played down the significance of the exchange, telling ePolitix.com that the weekly cross-fire of insults was "deeply unpopular" among the public, and in particular put off young and female voters from politics.

"Simply throwing everything you've got into the most intense adversarial politics, which most people see as a game, doesn't really matter that much if Ming doesn't perform absolutely brilliantly at PMQs," she argued.

New Conservative leader David Cameron promised to end the 'punch and judy' politics of question time on similar grounds, although he has already broken his own rule a number of times, unable to resist the temptation of getting one over on the prime minister.

And he has also questioned the impact such arguments and the large, barnstorming speeches politicians are expected to be good at, have on both potential voters and potential candidates.

One of Mr Cameron's aims as leader is to increase the number of female candidates standing for the Tories at Westminster, and yesterday he unveiled plans to scrap the requirement to make a big speech to local activists as part of the selection process.

He intends to change the criteria on which prospective MPs are judged – while rhetoric may be important in the House of Commons, many would argue that being able to listen to constituents and deal with their problems is even more crucial.

Publishing new selection criteria yesterday, party chairman Francis Maude insisted the changes, which will also see the introduction of US-style primaries, were necessary to make the party more inclusive.

"These guidelines are further evidence that the party is changing. If we want to be more inclusive, we must actively seek to include," he said.