PMQs sketch: Cameron stands by his man
David Cameron saw attack as the best form of defending William Hague in a PMQs crackling with tension over the fate of two foreign secretaries.
Backbenchers were in a jittery, fidgety mood. This usually means they’re feeling vulnerable, like a banker blustering about the bottom line while trying to cover up his enormous, bulging bonus. Today, somehow, it felt different. It’s possible they’re feeling worked up.
This happens frequently to politicians, so we at politics.co.uk have come to recognise the signs. The background level of chatter in the Commons was much higher than usual. Only Lib Dem coalition grump Bob Russell seemed placid, doing his utmost to catch up on his beauty sleep despite the din around him. He was the exception: the chattering felt distracted and gossipy even before Ed Miliband stood up.
Unlike last week’s drudgery, which made all present feel like their bones were slowly dissolving through tedium, the Labour leader fulfilled his promise of bashing the prime minister by instantly raising the weekend’s Libya fiasco. A usually deadened William Hague had already taken the flak for that humiliating episode, which saw SAS personnel on a secret mission rounded up and detained by rebel forces, on Monday. Cameron is unlikely to abandon his right-hand man just yet, but that hasn’t stopped the rumours rustling around Westminster that his foreign secretary is losing his grip and might have to go as a result.
Hague was absent from the front bench today, but that didn’t stop Miliband seeking his pound of flesh. “I take full responsibility for everything this government does,” the PM said in reply to the inevitable opening question. This was a tacit defence of Hague, who was not yet being singled out by Miliband. It wasn’t long in coming. After firing off some comments at Labour about Tony Blair’s relations with the Gaddafi regime – with as much effectiveness as the Libyan leader’s own misguided airborne bombs – Cameron was forced to address the Hague problem head-on. “There’s only one person here I can remember knifing a foreign secretary and we’re looking at him.”
The government backbenches burst into uncontrolled laughter. They loved it. Reminding MPs that the younger brother had usurped his elder brother David’s claim to the Labour throne might be viewed by some as a bit below the belt. But Cameron’s loyalty to his embattled ally contrasts with the conspicuous absence of brotherly love seen in Ed Miliband’s successful challenge against his elder sibling. The tabloids will love it.
The cheering went on and on. Ed Miliband sat there, with a look on his face last seen when he discovered the milk had gone mouldy.
“Right, done with that,” Cameron added, after what seemed like an age. It turned out somewhere in the morass of personal insults Miliband had managed to insert a question about police cuts, which was supposed to make up the second half of his questions. The PM proceeded to address them.
But Miliband couldn’t let go. He sabotaged his policing attack by returning again to the brotherly love jibes. “I’ve got a second cousin in Belgium he’ll be going after next,” he observed blithely. It was hardly a thrilling bit of repartee. Cameron came up with an even weaker response about having to draft in more police “to protect his relative”. That awkward petering out summed up the slight uneasiness, the edgy discomfiting atmosphere of these exchanges. This was unpleasant and personal from the prime minister. It was also rather effective.
The net result was what every prime minister’s questions should produce: thoroughly worked up backbenchers, galvanised by the brazen partisanship of the party opposite. A series of blistering questions livened up the remaining proceedings.
And Cameron, who was just starting to struggle against Miliband before his six questions came to a close, recovered with aplomb. He even managed to wind up his deputy. Nick Clegg’s grin, which had looked rather smug after the Liberal Democrats had avoided the flak for once, turned rather sickly when Cameron began laying into the alternative vote campaign.
But the highlight came from arch eurosceptic Tory backbencher Peter Bone, who asked for a referendum on Europe after noting that “the deputy prime minister would love it and my wife demands it”. It was beautifully done. “If only my wife were so easy to please,” Cameron mused, getting into the spirit of things.
