EDITORIAL VERDICT: "PMQs was a bit of a non-event today and the broadcasters have decided that the rooftop protest was more newsworthy. Sky (above) had live 'Skycopter' images of the protest playing alongside pictures from inside the chamber. BBC Online decided to lead on the PM's condemnation of the protest. So who wins PMQs overall today? The rooftop protestors."
Highlights, not verbatim:
12.18pm: Rob Wilson asks a question from the Tory backbenchers about record numbers of people wanting to leave Britain. What is it about his Government that makes so many want to emigrate, he asks. Brown doesn't answer properly but talks about global patterns of migration.
12.16pm: Nick Clegg asks a question about anti-depressant drugs but is ridiculed by the PM and Tory and Labour backbenchers for yesterday's pantomime walkout.
12.13pm: Gerald Kaufman wins the 'scraping-the-barrel-of-the-day' award by asking the PM to affirm the importance of visits to Auschwitz and urging condemnation of David Cameron for something of course he never said.
12.12pm: David Cameron says that PMQs are not a substitute for presidential debates. Not enough people watch PMQs and many don't think much of proceedings, the Tory leader says.
12.10pm: Will the PM agree to US-style presidential debates? Brown replies by saying that the weekly PMQs are scrutiny enough.
12.07pm: Cameron's next question concerning restoring public trust in politicians focuses on the EU referendum. Why, the Tory leader asks, is the Government still denying the British people a referendum on the day of a mass lobby of Parliament. Brown replies with the usual stuff about the Lisbon Treaty not being the Constitution. Will Mr Cameron hold a vote once the Treaty is passed, he asks.
12.04pm: Cameron asks about the pension arrangements for future MPs and about transparency of MPs' allowances. Brown replies by saying that he has already written to the Speaker urging more transparency.
12.02pm: The PM agrees with a question from David Cameron that MPs should no longer vote on their own pay.
12.01pm: PMQs begins with a question from a Labour backbencher urging the Prime Minister to join him and other Labour backbenchers in singing the red flag.
What a crass opening question, Cameron's opening is poor too (damn.)
Posted by: Curly | February 27, 2008 at 12:07
Usual Brown trick of asking questions when he cannot think on his feet viz. EU Referendum
Posted by: Curly | February 27, 2008 at 12:11
Curly now reaches for the Prozac!
Posted by: Curly | February 27, 2008 at 12:16
Good stuff from Cameron on tv debates. It works well for him tactically as he's more charismatic than GB and it is in principle a v good thing.
Posted by: Kate Bollinger | February 27, 2008 at 12:21
Then Curly may be in the placebo group!
Posted by: Phil Whittington | February 27, 2008 at 12:26
Twas Clegg who brought on the depression!
Posted by: Curly | February 27, 2008 at 12:34
I am sure Kaufman has won that award before.
Does them more damage than us. A better/statesman like answer would have been to say 'yes,yes, there are excellent and in fairness I am sure we can all agre on that..etc.etc.
He would have distanced himself from Balls and looked like the big man, but Gordon is a dinasaur who can't think outside his pre-historic box.
Posted by: Northernhousewife | February 27, 2008 at 12:50
Very poor from Cameron today...rather rambling.. I mean asking about expenses etc brought to mind pot and kettle... I hid behind my sofa...so embarrassing!
Posted by: Arabella Smythe | February 27, 2008 at 12:54
If you were watching the Daily Politics, there piece on homelessness included Govt, stats about homelessness which the validity of which is 'questioned' by the Big Issue.
Posted by: Northernhousewife | February 27, 2008 at 12:55
The big loser was the camaign to save British Soveriegnty !! No mention (other than by Cameron) of the Lobby of Parliament for an EU Referendum. The BBC predictably queered the pitch by having Ken Clarke as the token Tory. For Gods sake pension him off !
Posted by: Rod Sellers | February 27, 2008 at 13:00
"Gerald Kaufman wins the 'scraping-the-barrel-of-the-day' award "
It really is poor form for politicians to keep using the holocaust to score points. The fact that Gerald Kaufman had relatives who perished makes his point scoring all the more unsavoury. Politicians should let the dead rest in peace.
Posted by: Tony Makara | February 27, 2008 at 13:08
I liked the interactive live blog
Posted by: Ay Up | February 27, 2008 at 13:14
Kaufman's question at PMQs mirrors his entire political career.
Sanctimony wrapped in camp, partisan nastiness.
Clegg is no threat to us based on what we have seen to date. They should have gone for Huhne.
Posted by: London Tory | February 27, 2008 at 13:38
An odd PMQ's, but Conservatives should note the organisation of the Labour back benchers where they went on the 'gimmicks' issue to attack Cameron. Are the Conservatives that organised in their attack on the Governments record? They should be, but they aren't.
Posted by: Iain | February 27, 2008 at 13:59
Mail headlines it as Brown ducking tv debate challenge.
Posted by: Deputy Editor | February 27, 2008 at 14:10
I actually thought today's PMQs was much more of an event than last week's.
Cameron did much better than last week. He always comes across better when he's lecturing Brown, and the subject of TV debates and reviving interest in UK politics was a very interesting - and good - one.
Brown's answer that PMQs serves this purpose already was one of the weakest I've ever heard by a Prime Minister; Cameron then rightly pointed out that hardly anyone other than us politics anoracks watches PMQS, and is no forum on which to discuss issue and personality as in the US debates.
Brown's answer to Cameron's sixth question started with - "I have a question for the leader of the Opposition..."
Err, no Gordon, it's called Prime Minister's questions for a reason...
Cameron win.
Posted by: Edison Smith | February 27, 2008 at 14:17
The rooftop protest is a convenient excuse for the Brussels Broadcasting Corporation to ignore the I Want A Referendum Parliamentary lobby.
Posted by: TFA Tory | February 27, 2008 at 14:17
I actually thought Cameron was going for a different tack this time, trying to seem more statesmanlike then Brown, by trying to address issues of general concern. Brown by comparison seemed spiteful and petty, entirely in a mental bunker and unable to raise his game, trying to make everything about partisan point-scoring. For a minute there, Brown looked more like the leader of Opposition and Cameron more like the Prime Minister.
But sooner or later the Brown is going to have to be called to order by the Speaker of the House, A Speaker of the House, probably not Martin, and reminded these are Prime Minister's Questions and he has to answer to Parliament, not vice versa.
Posted by: Giovanni | February 27, 2008 at 15:45
Cameron tried today to act like a 'non-politician'. The lack of his usual coherency was staged, and his attempts to act like he was in touch with the people (something you will all remember that another Leader of the Opposition engaged in thirteen years ago) didn't ring true. When this is looked at in tandem with the nauseating spectacle that was Kaufman's question, it is easy to conclude that this week's PMQs was nothing either party can be proud of.
Posted by: Dominic Harvey | February 27, 2008 at 20:01