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PMQs - The verdict
Daniel Forman
It was seconds out for round two of Blair versus Cameron on the prisoners release row.
The Tory leader again used his full complement of questions on the subject as he continued to seek the scalp of home secretary Charles Clarke and sought to capitalise on the government's problems ahead of Thursday's local elections.
With Clarke having survived so far, despite a week of unremittingly bad headlines and revelations, Lib Dem MP Willie Rennie was first up to ask "just what does it take for the prime minister to accept the home secretary's resignation?"
Blair replied that Clarke remained the best person to sort the problem out, but the man himself was conspicuous by his distance away from the prime minister on the frontbench, despite the fact that the House was set to hear a statement from him subsequently.
In the continued absence of John Prescott after his affair and Gordon Brown, who has a habit of disappearing at such times, Blair was instead flanked by Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain and foreign secretary Jack Straw and left immediately after his half hour without waiting to hear Clarke's update - to loud shouts of "bye".
Cameron kicked off by pointing out that the rate of foreign prisoners not being considered for deportation had accelerated after the home secretary first found out about the problem last July. "Can the prime minister explain?" he asked.
But more sure of his facts than in his mauling last week, Blair confidently replied that "yes I can" and proceeded to detail some of the problems and measures put in place to fix them.
Cameron said civil servants had told him the real reason was that immigration staff were not allowed in prisons because foreign inmates would then claim asylum.
"Can the prime minister give the House an absolute assurance that that wasn't the case?" he asked. Again Blair simply said "yes I can".
He then plucked some random figures out of the air to illustrate the long standing difficulties with deportations in the department.
"If, for example, we take the time when he was a special adviser in the Home Office," he suggested, far fewer failed asylum seekers were removed and no records of how many foreign criminals were not considered for deportation were kept.
For the first time, Labour MPs actually began to see some light at the end of this tunnel, with cries for "more".
Tories however, heckled that their leader was not responsible for that problem, while Blair and Clarke are now.
"People listening to that answer will frankly think it pathetic," Cameron claimed, and while it may have won Blair a few parliamentary debating points, the Tory leader was probably right.
He also had another letter from within the Home Office highlighting incompetence.
"Shouldn't we believe people who having been working on the frontline for nine years, rather than a prime minister who did not know about the problem nine days ago," he paraphrased Blair, who had earlier this week said nine years of Labour achievements should not be lost in the space of nine days.
Blair then pointed out that the Tories had voted against legislation which tried to prevent serious criminals from claiming asylum and promised that Clarke would provide more details.
Cameron hit back that he was "looking forward" to hearing from Clarke.
"I stuck around for his statement last week when the prime minister scuttled out of the building," he jibed, adding that Clarke would "forever be associated with the scandal".
"People are paying the price of an arrogant attachment to office of a leader who has lost control," he concluded. Blair dismissed the rhetoric as a "pre-arranged soundbite".
It was a competent display from Cameron but failed to land the knockout blow against Blair, who looked much more assured than last week.
Both men though came across more impressively than Sir Menzies Campbell. Amid the noise the Lib Dem leader had to ask his first question twice as he struggled to be heard.
He then claimed the problem was too much legislation. "Isn't what we need less legislation, better government and a new home secretary?" he asked.
Blair replied that tougher action, not less action, was required. "There are people we will take lessons from on law and order. But not Liberal Democrats," he thumped.
From the backbenches former Tory minister Sir George Young suggested Blair had created a "new theory of ministerial responsibility".
His colleague Crispin Blunt defined it as: "The bigger the shambles, the more essential it is that the minister responsible stays in office."
Having seen his reputation attacked, Cameron's former boss at the Home Office Michael Howard also entered the fray.
"How can the prime minister say that every foreign criminal who served a sentence should be deported when his own Human Rights Act makes that impossible?" he asked.
Blair said he was "very glad" Howard had got to his feet so that he could "remind" him of his record: "Before the Human Rights Act he didn't deport every foreign criminal, did he?" Labour MPs answered for him.
Lighter entertainment was provided by David Clelland, who listed every government achievement he could think of before asking what "apart from those... what has a Labour government has ever done for us?"
Blair, who added a couple of his own, can only wish that voters will go to the polls on Thursday thinking of the minimum wage, record employment, low inflation and the rest.
The verdict
Blair: 7/10 - A more confident defence of the indefensible.
Cameron: 7/10 - Honours just about even. Had the stronger cards but couldn't quite make the most of them.
Campbell: 5/10 - Still struggling to command Commons attention but won't care if he picks up council seats.
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Published: Wed, 3 May 2006 13:14:23 GMT+01
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