David Cameron just made a deeply wounding attack on Tony Blair in PMQs. I haven't got it on tape but it went something like this...
Tony Blair: Tory policies....rubbish....backtracked on promises....blah....blah
David Cameron: These sessions are for me to ask him questions. I know the Prime Minister doesn't like being interrogated, but if he's going to be interviewed by Scotland Yard he'd better get used to it. Now, for the benefit of the tape...
And the Speaker even intervened on Blair, telling him in a very sorrowful voice that he should stop talking about Tory policies. About time. That's all Blair ever does at PMQs.
How does he manage to do that? You haven't got any - apart from a small number of stupid ones like a British Bill of Rights, Hug a Hoodie and turning Parliament into a joke.
ReplyDeleteDavid Cameron was excellent today -sharp, to the point and funny. I particularly enjoyed the "for the benefit of the tape" bit - very smooth.
ReplyDeleteTony Blair was his usual slippery self, regurgitating rubbish about how wonderful he is and how awful the Tories are. The Speaker should have jumped on him far quicker when he started on about Conservative policies - he's not there for that, he's just wasting time.
Mind, not being a frequent viewer of PMQs (they don't let me watch telly at work) I found it very irritating how slow the BBC are to name the various speakers. I know the main players, obviously, but when some backbencher I've never set eyes on in my life leaps up and starts pouring oil all over Blair and Prescott, saying how wonderful they are and what wonderful service they've given the country, blah, blah, blah, and their name never appears, it's annoying. After all, if someone is that desperate to be promoted, we ought to know who they are.
The dig about the peerages investigation really swung it in Cameron's favour.
ReplyDeleteMing managed to sound both pompous and trite in his questions and Blair looked a lot better against him.
Iain,
ReplyDeleteAre you after a job with Cameron? You must have been watching that through rose tinted spectacles! Cameron just comes ac ross as the Chairman of the Eton Old Boys Debating Society. He has no passion whatsoever.
By the way when did he visit the troops in Afghanistan or Basra?
He cannot ignore them you know many people and the troops especially do like visits from people who care.
Does Cameron Care?
Our poor troops have quite enough to put up with already. The last thing they need is to be used as PR fodder by Cameron.
ReplyDeleteIf the Tories REALLY want to ingratiate themselves with the lads, they should start a group of nubile cuties, call them the 'Tory Girls', and send THEM to entertain the weary soldiers. They'd be a LOT more welcome than some scruffy CCO urchin who can't even manage to put on a tie.
Iain, I think you and jafo much have watched a different version to the one I saw. Mr C is getting lamer every week. He really should cut out the attempted jokes; they're not very good ones and his over-rehearsed delivery is pathetic. Bring back William Hague; an awful leader but at least he could make us laugh....
ReplyDelete'David Cameron just made the most corruscating attack on Tony Blair in PMQs.'
ReplyDeletePerhaps you mean an excoriating attack. Coruscating (one r) means glittering and would be an odd way to describe an attack unless Cameron was wearing diamante applique.
If I posted "Pigs learn to fly" or "The Pope converts to Islam" on my blog, does anyone think the mainstream media would believe it?
ReplyDeleteHi Iain,
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I noticed on PMQ's
was DC's tie, exactly the same colour as your banner. Some coincidence???
You know when Blair has had it , when all he can do is rely on what happened 10 yrs ago, and has nothing positive to put forward.
DC's jokes were really good, I thought he gave the Bliar a good duffing over.
Bliar is like a ghastly record that's been at No 1 for weeks and weeks and weeks, and everyone is mightily relieved when it sinks down into the abyss from whence it came.
May that moment come very soon.
Setting aside who won the bout, the thing I noticed was how shrill Blair is getting these days. He's getting to sound like a screaming queen - maybe the rumours have some substance.
ReplyDeleteEr, does nobody remember Thatcher harping on about the previous Labour administration in PMQs? Because she did.
ReplyDeleteI admire your loyalty and determination, but David Cameron is the wrong man for the job. He'd be OK in the Shadow Cabinet, but he is not leadership material. He has no vision.
ReplyDeleteAnd he just isn't likeable.
Punch and Judy show?
ReplyDeleteWhat makes me laugh most is Blair wanting to debate policy with Cameron in PMQs when he has run scared at invitations to participate in a pre-election Presidential style debate to discuss... wait for it ... policy!
ReplyDeletephone cam foolery!
ReplyDeleteOf course you are right, my son is serving out there and can confirm that.
sadly none are in supply although the yaanks have the McDonalds and all the accessories ours have to make do with second hand vehicles!.
Cameron has not made one visit to either of the war zones and his pious
attempts at sympathy for loved ones is not welcome either.
Did anyone else notice that Blair said "I notice he didn't want to ask me about any of the policy positions that he has..."? So the leader of the Opposition is supposed to use PMQs to ask the PM his thoughts on the policies of the Opposition party? Looks like I've got the wrong idea about PMQs then...
ReplyDeleteSt Fotherington-Tomas of Notting Hill ("Hello clouds, hello huggable hoodies and single mums, hello liquescent glaciers, hello tax-and-spend policies, what fun! I wake up every morning thinking ‘How can I change the Conservative Party?’ ** ") is a total bloody disaster area and the sooner he finds his natural home in the NuLibDems the better.
ReplyDeleteIt’s still not too late for some one sensible and practical who can think on his feet and best of all is a Conservative (David Davis springs to mind, surprisingly.)
BTW counselling patience doesn’t help those of us out here who are rapidly losing it. What would help is a respected right-of-centre political commentator willing to come straight out and say “Enough!”
** the Dear Leader, verbatim. (In Newcastle a while back)