Liveblog PMQs with us

At-a-glance guide:

• David Cameron wishes PM a happy 57th Birthday, asks him to explain the catastrophic failure on the foreign criminals DNA disc. Brown responds by saying Conservatives were against DNA records. Cameron rejects that and says: "There always is an inquiry with this government... frequently a police inquiry".
• Clegg welcomes Brown's following of LibDem advice on Northern Rock and says they agree on the economically illiterate proposals of the Conservative Party, but asks him to admit that if he acted sooner he could have saved billions of pounds and the reputation of the City. Then asks about the scandal of energy companies making massive windfall profits, which should be given to people who might die for lack of heating.
• In his second set of questions Cameron asks what the PM is trying to hide by exempting Northern Rock from FOI. Brown says it would be unfair on NR if other companies could see its accounts. Cameron says PM's answer is feeble and gives examples of other publicly-owned bodies that are subject to FOI, says Government's approach to FOI would make Fidel Castro proud. Brown, to cheers, says he's not going to reduce the issue of NR to student politics, but makes a cheap shot in asking if DC will publish the accounts of the Midlands Industrial Council.
• See liveblog below for some backbench questions and thoughts on performance.

Comments

[m dowding]

Last night in The House, Vince Cable highlighted the awful situation that Granite appear to own all the decent assets of Northern Crock. Yet, so far, nothing is being said by The Opposition! If questions in the House today are as tame as ever, what is to be done?

[Steve Markham]

Join all the fun at the Scottish Parliament South at noon today!.

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[Politico]

And we wonder why we only have 1 Scottish MP. Perhaps the party should try its best to re-engage with the Scottish public (on the back of the good work done by Ms Goldie) rather than putting forward ammunition that only helps the SNP.

[Brenda Davis]

Not a good performance from David Cameron today i'm sorry to say. Gordon seemed to be enjoying his birthday a little to much. Nick Clegg did well and was able to crow about his parties performance over Northern Rock. Cameron looked to be playing catch up to Clegg by following him on NR!
How has this debacle over NR has ended up with us looking bad... i.e changing/non existant policy and Labour and in paticular Vince Cable of the Lib Dems looking credible and sound?

[sjm]

When this NR nationalisation goes belly-up, as it surely will, I wonder if Cable'n'Clegg will be so proud of themselves?

[sjm]

When this NR nationalisation goes belly-up, as it surely will, I wonder if Cable'n'Clegg will be so proud of themselves?

[Gnosis]

Brenda Davis@13:02
How have we ended up looking like we have egg on our faces well its down to the unwillingness of George Osbourne to come up with a coherent plan and to actually stick to it quite simple really.We should move george aside and bring Mr Redwood back to the front bench,he may be a rather odd chap to those who don't know him but his knowledge of the economy is streets ahead of young George.

[David Cooper]

One explanation of the apparent "catch up on NR" mentioned by Brenda is that after the first round of lost data questions, DC appeared deliberately to stay sitting down when the Dear Leader asked him a question in his usual manner. Acting on good advice?

[Yogi]

Fully agree with Gnosis. Unfortunately Gideon is a boy in a man's world - too impetuous at times and cannot think on his feet and very often looks schoolboyish and flippant.

John Redwood would have destroyed Brown during the past few days.

Cameron must act soon to get that extra momentum because we are once again flatlining and all you need is another Tony Lit moment for us to get back to square 1.

[Iain]

"How have we ended up looking like we have egg on our faces well its down to the unwillingness of George Osbourne"

Yes, a subject the Conservatives should be on full attack mode, have, because of the incoherent, muddled, and lame approach from Osborne and the Shadow Treasury team has left them on the back foot and scrabbling around ( as we saw with Chris Grayling on the Politics show) for any understandable line or story to tell on the subject.
So the Conservatives rather than having an opportunity to advance their case, have infact managed to lose ground. Not clever.

[Brenda Davis]

@Gnosis
You are absolutly right to praise John Redwood. I saw his speech yesterday during the Northern Rock debate. He was articulate, in command of his brief, very detailed and clearly understood the economics and risks of the situation we are now in.... surely we can find room for his talent in the shadow cabinet

[Politico]

Cameron doesn't have the backbone to replace Osborne - why he was given the brief we will never know. He sounds like a child.

Hague or perhaps redwood should be in that position (but its a wee bit like recycling has been's) - our party cant be devoid of talent as labour.

[No way redwood]

Redwood is a too tough and a womaniser I would not trust him with the nations money. I remember him once insulting Alex Carlise by goading him about resigning his seat when everyone knew he was resigning his seat to help his sick daughter. He is too tough and harsh by my book.

[London Tory]

Interesting that Simon Heffer talks up John Redwood for Shadow Chancellor in the Telegraph today. One might call it the Unelected speaking up in support of the Unelectable.

John has many praiseworthy qualities, but he did the Party enormous damage in the 90s (along with others), and his poor public image will not sway many of the flaoting voters we need.

[London Tory]

One other thought.

If Heffer wants Redwood as Chancellor, is he also advocating bringing back Tony Marlow too as his Chief Secretary to the Treasury, along with his stripy blazer ?

Someone send for the Men In White Coats.

[Harry Flashman]

If the Cons have no policy what was that 3 page pdf published the other day - a mirage ?

Too many haters on here.

[Iain]

"Too many haters on here."

Well Chris Graying on the Politics show struggled to explain the Conservative policy and he is one of the few on front bench who is able to communicate Conservative polices in a cogent way.

Now if I understand Conservative policy which they have settled on late in the day, its a type of Chapter 11, so why don't they say that, instead of whittering on abour some sort of ill defined Bank of England managed, sort of administration?

[Frederick James]

I thought that Cameron did fairly well from a starting position that I agree is not ideal.

Leaving the Crock until his second set of questions made (perhaps accidentally) Broon's prepared jibe that Cameron didn't want to talk about it look leaden and stupid, and Cameron did well to focus on the Freedom of Information Act and the Granite mystery, where we are not so vulnerable to counter-attack.

The FoI point was well set up for the future, as something nasty will undoubtedly leak at some point and Cameron can then tellingly accuse Broon of having known about whatever-it-is at the time of nationalisation. Good spadework for the longer term.

Broon, by contrast, said nothing interesting at all and his response to the FoI point was palpably shifty.

[MartinW]

John Redwood's blog should be 'essential reading' for all who appreciate good sense and intelligent debate. However, despite JR's obvious fitness for the job of shadow chancellor, it would surely be a political mistake, and provide Labour with endless opportunities to hark back to the past.
Nonetheless, I do feel that Osbourne should be replaced as shadow chancellor, simply because of his boyish public image (it is sad that image trumps argument nowadays). We need someone older, with wider experience and a good public image. Michael Fallon has been suggested, and always seems impressive in interviews. Perhaps he would be a suitable replacement?

[Malcolm Dunn]

Another win for Cameron today I think. Cameron only had to be average to win as Brown is almost always awful. The FOI line of attack will pay dividends in the coming days. It's really quite indefensible as Brown must surely know.
Agree with those who say that George has not covered himself in glory over NR but then in my opinion neither has Vince Cable. All the choices available to politicians since September have been bad and noone including Redwood has been able to concoct a panacea.
The mistakes were made when the role of the BOE was changed, with the creation of the deeply flawed FSA and finally with the rejection of the Lloyds offer.
The only choices since then were to let NR go bust (which I would have favoured) or some type of nationalisation.
In view of that Osborne's decision to play the political angle, attack Darling without offering any meaningful solution himself is probably the correct if unedifying one.

[Josh]

Maybe Ozzy is a little weak on this one. Still, at least he can say he would not have done what Labour have done (even if what he would have done seems rather undefined).

With Black Wednesday, theoretically Labour shouldn't have benefitted much because they were more enthusiastic for the ERM than the government. Still they did benefit, which shows that Ozzy not being coherent is not necessarily a major setback.

[Frederick James]

Josh (para 2): perhaps a little cynical, but a good point all the same!

[Old-Tyke]

I believe that any negative preconceptions held by the public re John Redwood would be dispelled when they see how articulate, knowledgeable and dedicated he is. He actually believes in something and is to be admired for his committed stance. It's time the shadow front bench had more fire - apart from William Hague it's looking rather lacklustre. The policy of giving the government enough rope isn't working - all they're doing is strangling the country.

[Strategic brain]

The male brain is strategic and the female brain is social. Men tend to be better at map reading and strategic issues. This why they tend to oprefer war gaming. While women tend to be better at talking, social skills. Who did better at the social event of the week PMQ's The labour man or the tory man. Who has the male brain who has the female brain.

[Cllr Andrew McConnell - Bedford]

I have today, just watched Prime Ministers Question time, and am horrified by the way Gordon Brown answered the questions put to him by David Cameron over the Northern Rock crisis.

What is the Government hiding?

Why are they banning the public from viewing the data on Northern Rock, they showed the data to the Virgin boss – Richard Branson.

Gordon Brown should remember it is US, the tax payer that is going to be forced to pay for the nationalisation of Northern Rock. The freedom of information act was surely introduced to ensure openness and transparency.

To say that is due to commercial confidentiality quite frankly is a lame excuse. Why is it that other companies have had to open their books in the past as part of openness and transparency?

What is Gordon Brown hiding?

Gordon Brown is 57 today, why doesn’t he just take the early retirement package and do the decent thing and retire. Since he took over as PM, he has continued to fail us over and over again.

General Election…. Bring it on!

[Freddie Carruthers]

@ Cllr Andrew McConnell - Bedford
You sound paranoid quite frankly!

[David Sergeant]

The disadvantage for the Tories over NR is that, almost from the begining, nationalisation would have to be the answer. And it will be a mess which is why Brown is trying to close down the FoI. Of course Tories can't propose nationalisation but Lib/Dems can - simple. (Even if it wasn't nationalised Cable could point at difficulties and keep claiming he was right) Grayling etal could say that any policies by the oposition could only be in response to information dribbeling out and would be, therefore, liable to change.

However, the long game is to be against nationalisation and make a fuss about FoI and point at the wheels as they start wobbleing.

[Sam R]

Bit rich to claim that the Opposition does not have a coherent policy on NR - we are still not in Government. Fact is the Government one has been recognised as a form of running down before a sell-off; so much for saving NR.
DC did a good job of tripping up the PM by coming back with his later question on FOI aspects that left GB floundering.
Alas, Grayling too was floundering on the B of E question.
Those who advocate keeping as keen a brain as John Redwood in the background are doing the Party cause a serious disservice. His Commons interventions are incisive, coherent, informed. John is a truly committed Tory who is not averse to hard work and mastering his brief, as anyone who reads his blog can verify. We really do need more Front Benchers with bite.
Not one of DC's better performances, but, with the greatest financial wizard of all time glaring across the Dispatch Box, it would take a really poor performance from DC for Broon to even draw the match.
At least we now know who are the main advocates of nationalisation

[Joe James Broughton]

George Osborne's performance over Northern Rock is appalling. The party needs to wake up.

Michael Fallon or Dominic Grieve should be Shadow Chancellor.

A credible economic spokesman with more gravitas, and less obvious political mud slinging, could easily make the difference between winning or losing the general election.

As I said, taxi for Osborne. Now.

[northeastconservative]

Nick Clegg is struggling. He isn't able to command the attention of the house, so he rattles off his rehearsed lines regardless of the noise and chatter around him.