Above: the Union flag flying above the Victoria Tower.
From the laughing Daily Politics studio the cameras switched to the House of Commons, and focused on the government front bench. All the familiar faces were there, Jack Straw and Alistair Darling wearing identical ties, so that they gave a Tweedledumb and Tweedledee effect either side of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House. The Prime Minister regretted another military death and then announced his afternoon schedule.
In mood Gordon Brown seemed livelier, more confident – insouciant even. In part this must be because the economic catastrophe has so limited his room for manoeuvre that there is now only one way forward for him. It reminds me of Evelyn Waugh’s 1952 novel Men At Arms where the protagonist Guy Crouchback is grimly satisfied at the outbreak of war because he knows the indecision and self-loathing of his life have come to an end and the path before him has become fixed and unalterable.
Conservative grandee Sir Peter Tapsell got to his feet. A uniquely Tory sort of braying broke out, as if they were crying “year, year, year”. Sir Peter, hands clasped behind his back, demanded the Prime Minister should apologise for wrecking the British economy.
The Prime Minister almost gleefully quoted Sir Peter’s own words of a week ago, and told him he was contradicting himself (harsh laughter from the Labour benches – or it seemed harsh to me, but possibly I am becoming increasingly biased against that side).
A Labour MP called Colin (I didn’t catch his last name) called for a crack-down on money-lenders who prey on the disadvantaged.
The Prime Minister smoothly announced measures to do just that.
David Cameron asked the first of his allotted six questions. He accused the government of secret plans to raise VAT after the election. He looked angrily across the chamber.
Gordon Brown told him “we were looking at all the options.”
David Cameron waved the “secret” plans and said they were so finished they had been signed-off by government minister Stephen Timms.
Gordon Brown airily said it was just one of many options. He called the Tories “do-nothings”. He referred to hard-working and hard-pressed families (this is code for anyone likely to vote Labour whose interests need to be ring-fenced).
David Cameron asked whether national debt was going to double as a result of the government’s spending plans.
Gordon Brown said we would still be in a better position than the Americans (as if that is going to be any comfort) and called David Cameron a do-nothing again.
David Cameron asked again whether national debt was going to double.
Gordon Brown said national debt would rise to 58% of GDP. He said the Americans would have a national debt of 70% of GDP (as if that should make us feel better). He condemned Conservative shadow minister Andrew Lansley’s comment that “recession will be good for us”.
David Cameron said a national debt of 58% of GDP would be the same percentage that forced 70s Labour Chancellor Denis Healey to go to the IMF (usually described as “cap in hand” to the IMF).
Gordon Brown told him that all around the world debt was rising and that “this is what has to be done” (there was an unspoken “sonny” at the end of his reply).
David Cameron told Gordon Brown (in the form of a question) that “New Labour was dead”.
Gordon Brown told David Cameron (bluntly) “the Conservatives have abandoned compassion.”
Labour Treasury Committee Chairman John McFall asked the Prime Minister to get all the bankers “into a room” to force them to start lending again. He had said on last night’s Newsnight that he would tell the Prime Minister this, and it was impressive to see him doing so in such a public way. Note: last night’s Newsnight also included an extremely well-made and interesting report from inside an Iraqi gaol – irrelevant to Prime Minister’s Questions, but worth looking at on BBC iplayer.
The Prime Minister replied that he was already talking to the banks.
Other questions included Liberal Democrat accusations of betrayal over the tax system; Ian Davidson’s wonderfully archaic and Old Labour jibe at the “spoilt rich kids” of the Tory benches; possible deployment of British troops to the Congo; the plight of the charitable sector as the economic situation worsens; an enquiry why Sterling has fallen so abruptly; and a plea to build more social housing.
My favourite question was Labour’s Joan Ryan who obliquely defended the booking clerks of Enfield Chase railway station.
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