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PMQs - The verdict
Daniel Forman
Until now this had been such a good week for David Cameron.
First he rattled the Brownites by pinching their constitutional reform programme. Then he watched Tony Blair fall into his well-laid trap and back down on some of his education plans.
And he started PMQs well enough, with a measured response to the weekend's tensions over the Prophet Mohammed cartoon protests.
But the first signs that things were not quite going according to plan came in Blair's response to this, turning the screws on the Tory refusal to back the government's legislation against the glorification of terrorism.
In parliamentary terms this was couched as Blair saying he would be "grateful if he would look again at his position on glorification".
What he meant was 'you're not really going to oppose this now are you?' and Cameron's lack of response was conspicuous.
Then came Sir Menzies Campbell, who appears to be have been so scarred by his gaffe of a few weeks ago that he daren't ever take any risks again.
This week he went on police force mergers which he claimed would cost £500m and result in either "higher council tax bills of less police on the streets".
This is the safest stick to hit the government with at the moment, opposed as it is in all corners of the country, but Blair insisted it would all blow over and batted it away with ease.
After that it was Cameron's turn again and this time he went in for the kill on education.
If, as he has claimed, the prime minister always regrets not going further on public service reform, "why is it that on the biggest reform of this parliament - education - he's going backwards?"
But Blair was ready, quoting Cameron's own calls for schools to own their assets, employ their own staff and develop their own ethos - all of which, the prime minister insisted, were staying.
The Conservative leader then made his big mistake, accusing Blair of "flip-flopping". He was probably trying to be clever, throwing Labour's own favourite soundbite about him back at them.
However he simply looked stupid by allowing Blair to list the legions of policy U-turns the Tories have already performed in his brief tenure in the top job.
Of course Blair always does this anyway, but this time he was being invited to, rubbing his hands as he said: "I see he has raised the issue of flip-flopping."
The prime minister also produced a devastating Tory leaflet from this week's Dunfermline by-election in which Cameron claims to be a "liberal Conservative" who agreed with the Lib Dems on Iraq.
Having been through Cameron's other claims - to be Conservative to his core as well as the heir to New Labour - Blair then produced his best line: "No wonder he is against ID cards."
Cameron claimed to "love it" and actually had some good lines of his own, including: "I won't take any lectures in consistency from a prime minister who has spent all week in reverse gear"; "Why is he trying to appease those who oppose reform when he could be working with those who want it?"; and "whatever happened to his historic turning point? It won't be very historic if he keeps turning."
But, inside the Commons at least, they failed to hit home under the weight of sustained Labour jeers and laughter. If PMQs is mostly about buoying up backbenchers, then it was Blair who certainly went home happier.
Among the other contributions there were a few moments of humour amid the local elections campaigning.
As Gordon Prentice complained about honours being bought through the sponsorship of city academy schools, someone joked that "there goes your knighthood".
More loyal backbenchers were keen to celebrate the upcoming centenary of the parliamentary Labour Party. Blair noted that he had achieved two of the three of the founding fathers' goals, a minimum wage and home rule - but not prohibition.
And following last week's no-show in the division on religious hatred, which cost the government its majority, Michael Ancram asked Blair if the "duties in the House" announcement he opens PMQs with every week "would perchance include voting?"
The Tories thought this was very funny. Cameron appeared to be laughing a bit too hard.
The verdict
Blair 9/10 - Picked up Cameron's flip flops and slapped him round the head with them.
Cameron 5/10 - A day to forget in what should have been a week to remember.
Campbell 6/10 - Ming all over. Steady but unspectacular.
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Published: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 14:13:08 GMT+00
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