The Moon of Liberty

Prime Minister's Question Time - 19th March 2008

Venue - Palace of Westminster at 12.00 pm

The Final PMQ's before easter, and with the budget having gone down like, well, it just went down really, and Cameron now having amassed huge leads in the polls, Cameron would surely have a field day against the poor beleagued Prime Minister right? er, well, to a degree, but it took a while to get going.

After the usual first question from a  Labour backbencher asking if the Prime Minister agrees hes the best thing since sliced bread, well not quite but it must have been dull, as I don't remember what she asked, Cameron stood up and asked about the violence in Tibet. No points to be scored on this one obviously, this became very clear when Brown announced he was going to meet the Dali Lama and Cameron, get this, congratulated him on doing the right thing. To much hilarity Brown responded that the Governemnt always make the right decisions, like decisions in the Budget that now has them only 16% behind in the opinion polls, hmm.

Cameron only used two questions on Tibet, he has six, so this means he could come back again later. So for now we were treated to the pleasure of the new Lib Dem leader, that's Nick Clegg for those who have never heard of him. At first he made a smart point regarding a group of service people who do not get British citizenship. He then came with a fine line about Brown as Chancellor (In the days when Tony Blair was PM, remember him) 'signing the cheques but not have the courage to take repsonsibility.' So far so good, sadly he then went into a dull rant about the Iraq war and lost the plot, Brown responded by suggesting we don't want Saddam back do we? I sometimes wonder if some people do.

So back came David Cameron, he invited the Prime Minster to answer question he has failed to answer over the last few weeks, a sort of Prime Minister's waffle, the best bits. Cameron asked about a free vote on the embryo research bill, Brown told us it was an important bill that must go through, suggesting no free vote, but people 'will be allowed to vote on their consciences.' That would mean a free vote. At least the question was answered, but he gave both possible answers, so which is the right one? Who knows?

Cameron then moved to ID cards, and Brown, while not answering, asked Cameron about ID cards for foreign nationals. Cameron didn't answer that to be fair, but when you can respond with 'If you want to ask me the questions, call an election and you can ask six a week.' bringing back the ghost of the election that never was, you really don't need to.

Cameron then tried on final time on A levels after 2013, Brown this afternoon gave the impression of not knowing what was going on now, never mind after 2013, by then of course, he may no longer be in office, so maybe he is wise not to answer it afterall. Cameron informed us Gordon Brown's new spin doctor's favourite book is called 'The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organisations.' Characterising the last few weeks perfectly, that was game over, Brown ended with a flustered rant about things Cameron did not ask about, a sure fire sign he was beaten, he then finished by saying 'The Conservatives have no answers to the nations problems.' So after 11 years of Labour rule, we need answers to the nations problems, not a great advert for the record of a man who signed the cheques, but his inadvertent admission of Goverment failures may yet mean he is starting to find the courage to take responsibility.

THE MOON OF LIBERTY SCORE - Gordon Brown 1 David Cameron 3 - Not the greatest of Cameron performances, but more than enough to finish before easter ahead of a Prime Minister wilting on a recent tide of bad luck and unpopularity.

Prime Ministers Questions - 18th July 2007

Venue - House of Commons, The Palace of Westminster

After Terrorism, which Cameron took the honours, and the NHS, in which Brown hit back, today's test for the two party leaders would be Law And Order. The topic is chosen by the opposition leader, where as the Prime Minsiter has the advantage of the last word. It is debatable which is the bigger advantage in this parliamentary game, today it was with Mr Cameron.

The topic was the early release scheme. Cameron began by asking how many prisoners released on the early release scheme had been convicted of violent offenses? Brown was on the back foot from the start. He had been given a brief, but it was clearly written by an adviser and had no official substance behind. He attempted to claim the answer to the question was that nobody covicted of violent offenses had been released early, reading from a script, his voice gradually got higher and more panicked, almost as if he knew the information he had been given was complete nonsense, and hoped by shouting the answer nobody would realise this, sadly for Mr Brown it made the real position perfectly clear.

Cameron came back and gave us the figure from the probation service themselves, 334 criminals convicted of serious violent offenses had been released early. He then went on to ask about a circular from the head of the probabtion service stating that thier views were ignored, and many they still considered a danger to the public were released against their advice. Brown's response was to claim the Governemnt had increased prison places and the Tories opposed the investment, trying the old 'Tory cuts' trick from last week, fine when your performing well, but when you are the Prime Minister givng the impression you have no idea whats going on in the prison service, the line falls rather more flat.

Cameron was on a roll. The only glitch was an annoying tendency to say 'right' or 'now' and pause before moving on to the next part of his argument. It stopped the flow and will look very bad if he does this on a bad today, today was not a bad day for him however. He asked if the Prime Minister had anything to say to the victims of those who had suffered crime at the hands of those released early and had re-offended. Brown merely went on a flustered rant about crime under the Tories doubling, he had nothing to say, his credibility from that moment was shot.

Cameron finished with a flourish. The Prime Minster did not know what was going on, had nothing to say to victims, 'same old incompetence, same old Labour.' The benches were the reverse of a week ago, Tories cheering, glum Labour faces. Brown ended the exchange with a lame pre-rehearsed line about Cameron not being the future but talking about the past. Given Cameron had talked about things going on now and the victims that are suffering from the policy now, and Brown talking about Crime doubling under the tories 10-15 years ago, the hollow line summed up the Prime Minsters miserable show.

THE MOON OF LIBERY VERDICT

DELIVERY - Brown was flustered and simply terrible today, Cameron had some excellent moments, but has to stop the 'right' and 'now' pauses which are annoying.

STRATEGY - Good move to go on this issue by Cameron and the quotes from others he selected to back up his argument were much better worked out than last week. Brown relied on a clearly inaccurate briefing and gave the impression of not telling us the whole story, so much for the end of the age of spin.

ARGUMENT - Cameron destroyed any attampt at a defense from Brown of the way this scheme has worked. Brown's refusal to say anythign in regard to the victims of re-offenders ensured nothing he had to say today seemed credible.

QUOTES - Cameron's flow at his last visit to the dispatch box produced many quotes that summed up how Brown came across. watch for more of the line 'Same old Labour.' tying Brown to Old Labour's failed past, and Tony Blair, at the same time. If that sticks it will be bad news for Brown. Brown's line about Cameron 'wanting to talk about the past' was the opposite of what occured today, and was feeble as a result.

MISC - Back to Brown's refusal to say anything about the victims of re-offenders. This type of error will reinforce the view Brown is a technocrat with no sense of the emotional side required to reach out to people. This flaw could become a major issue in a full length election campaign.

MOON OF LIBERTY SCORE - Gordon Brown 0 David Cameron 4, - Good subject, delivery and line of argument from Cameron, Brown needs to go back to the drawing board. The 'Big Clunking Fist' was well and truely nullified today.

I kick off my parliament section with today's PMQ's. I will score all sessions (PMQ's and any debates) with the performaces of the main players out of 5. Again, just my opinion and just for fun. I'm sure many will disagree with my view.

11th July 2007 - Prime Minster Questions 12:00 start

Venue - The House of Commons at the Palace of Westminster

After what most agree was a bad performace last week, new Prime Minister Gordon Brown hit back today with a much more solid performance, helped by some poor judgement by Conservative Leader David Cameron, to regain credibility in this hothuse atmosphere.

He began by offering condolences to service men killed in Iraq, but the NHS was the issue Cameron decided to lead his attack on. A report published by Lord Darcy into hospital services in London suggested, at least Mr Cameron claimed, that hospital services across London would be under threat.

Brown countered with a passage which clearly concluded that no hospitals or services would be closed as a result of the review. He also argued many more hospitals were being built due to Labour investment, something the Conservatoves would not match. 'Who is closing the hospitals, it's the Conservatives.' Brown claimed. This seems a strange claim as Labour are the Governemnt and Cameron cannot close any hospitals, even if he wanted to. Surely Cameron would nail this down.

No, he actually did not. He pressed on with quotes from the repot Brown had already refuted. Last week when faced with Brown countering with question over the Tories opposition on ID cards, Cameron demolished the argument, today Cameron said nothing. The casual observer would be left to wonder if Camaeron's silence means he is indeed planning cuts. It will reinforce a strong Labour card, cries of 'Tory cuts' have dogged the Troies for a decade, today that (In reality) weak argument was able to win the day.

With Cameron's silence, Brown gained more confidence. Cameron had given Brown a full free shot at the 'Labour invest in hospitals, the Tories cut services' argument, and he smacked the invitation well over the boundary. He finished with the best line 'you do the PR, I'll carry on being PM.' The Tory bench looked miserable for the rest of the session, Game set and match.

THE MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT

DELIVERY - Both men delivered their lines well, although Brown's lines were better.

STRATEGY - Cameron was one dimensional regarding the speciifcs of the report, unlike last week, Brown took great pleasure in taking advange.

ARGUMENT - Brown, partly due to Cameron's own fault, was able to establish the 'Tory Cuts' argument, and reminded us all who was the PM, great approach when you are already on top.

QUOTES - 'You do the PR, I'll carry on being PM' from Brown was the best line of the day.

MISC - The Labour benches were calling for more at the end, the Tories looked miserable, sometimes this is pure partisanship and not a reflection of what happened, today this was a true reflection.

SCORE (OUT OF FIVE) Gordon Brown 4 David Cameron 1 - After last weeks let down, Brown evens the score with a clear victory.