PMQs: Hague says ending of 10p tax band will hurt five million poorer families

8.15pm PlayPolitical:  Watch Harriet Harman's first PMQs as Gordon Brown's Deputy

EDITORIAL VERDICT: William Hague was not at his best although he chose the right topic: Labour's regressive scrapping of the 10p tax band and its impact on five million poorer families.  Vince Cable flopped - asking a question about The Queen which risked being ruled out of order - and was.  Harriet Harman certainly exceeded expectations.  She appeared confident and although like her boss - didn't really answer any questions - she'll be pleased at this performance after yesterday's humiliation.

12.25pm: Tory John Baron asks what is unique about Britain that we need such a long period of detention without trial.  Ms Harman responds by saying that she won't listen to a party that wants to abolish the Human Rights Act introduced by Labour.

12.19pm: Charles Walker MP asks Harriet Harman to condemn the BNP candidates who suggested rape was a myth.  The Deputy Labour leader urges all Londoners to vote for mainstream parties and stop the BNP getting a seat on the London Assembly.

12.16pm: Cable asks if Mrs Harman thinks the Queen was over-reacting by cancelling her anniversary celebrations or was in touch with the public mood.  The Speaker rules a question about Her Majesty as out of order.

12.15pm: Loud cheers for Vince Cable as he gets to his feet. How many? How many? MPs shout.

12.13pm: The facts are, Hague finishes, council tax has doubled under Labour, 5m families are worse off, 300,000 small businesses are worse off.  Why do the British people have to wait two years in order to get rid of the Cabinet responsible for all of this?

12.10pm: Mr Hague jokes that Gordon Brown has gone to a palace so will probably be lost by now. He invites Mrs Harman to confirm that people do feel economically insecure and apprehensive.  The Labour Deputy Leader says that international economic turbulence has worsened since she wrote remarks for her blog quoted by Mr Hague.

12.06pm: William Hague notes Harriet Harman's stab-proof vest and her remarks that she wears a hard hat on a building site etc and asks if she wears a clown's outfit when she goes to Cabinet.  Harman responds by saying that she won't take fashion advice from a man who famously wore a baseball cap.  She then responds to William Hague's questions about the ending of the 10p income tax band.  Mr Hague said that more than 5m low income families will be worse off this weekend.  Ms Harman says she won't take lectures from a man who opposed the minimum wage.

12.04pm: Harriet Harman responds by asking why Theresa May, Shadow Leader of the House, isn't asking questions for the Conservatives.  Are women seen but not heard in the modern Tory party, she says?  She then answers William Hague's question on Zimbabwe.  She promises every effort from the Government to ensure Robert Mugabe respects the democratic wishes of the Zimbabwe people.

12.03pm: William Hague congratulates Harriet Harman on being the first female Labour MP to answer Prime Minister's Questions Time; she must be proud to follow in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher.

Comments

[Guido Fawkes]

Popcorn, cold beer, comfy slippers on...

[Dominic Harvey]

Lovely Thatcher reference from Hague!

[Tony Makara]

Harman openly admitting that she is afraid of debating Hague.

[Rob]

It might be nice if our front bench all turned up in stab proof vests, to show solidarity with Harriet

[G]

Harman bombing out already...mercy mercy!

[Phil Whittington]

Hague is being very canny in showing that he is rhetorically far superior and making very good points, but not going in for the kill, since it would allow Harman to paint it as a sexist attack.

He's a shrewd operator, Hague...

[Tim Roll-Pickering]

Harman is stupidly ignorant of what Labour did when they were in opposition. When Blair didn't do PMQs it was the male deputy leader (John Prescott) not the female Shadow Leader of the House (Ann Taylor) who was first in line to stand in. Was Harman whining then?

And turning it into a sexism issue just shows how obsessed the idiot is.

I never thought I'd say this, but:

BRING BACK JOHN PRESCOTT!

[Ephraim Gadsby]

I don't rate Harman very highly, but I've been rather surprised by her first two replies to Hague (who I do rate). I think she gave as good as she got. Very good point about Mrs May not asking her the questions (as is the tradition), which neatly defused Hague's Thatcher references. Ditto on bulletproof vests versus baseball caps - very clever way of defusing the issue.

She's no dazzling debater, but maybe expectations of her were so low that she has actually risen above them.....

[James Burdett]

Ephraim - Oppositions can nominate whoever when the PM is absent. There is no tradition at all other than that the other leaders absent themselves.

[Tim Roll-Pickering]

The tradition is a clear order - first the Leader of the Opposition, then the deputy leader/senior member, then the shadow leader of the house. However if their government opposite is absent they also skip and it goes to the next one. The confusion is as Harman is both Deputy Leader and Leader of the House (as well as all her other hats), but it's the former that takes precedent hence she's shadowed by Hague not May.

[Steve]

Why are all the McLabour MPs Jocks?, dont they have their own Parliament and Government?, what are they doing here???.

[Oscar Miller]

I agree with Ephraim. Maybe it's because expectations were so low, but Harman is doing better than I thought she would and better than Gordon usually does. At least she makes her points clearly and can deliver some hard hitting blows. On the down side of course she's coming up with the usual government lies. Overall, tho' I'd say she has managed to show Gordon up. Hague good but not brilliant.

[Ellesmere Dragge]

Hmmm, by his own standards Haig fell woefully short, and by any standards Cable bombed.

Harman is not the finest debater; but today she did the job. Even the response to the planted question (on autism) was well-prepared and cogent.

Tory over-confidence let the side down.

In the greater scheme of things, it all will not matter: but there is an awful warning in there.

[Ephraim Gadsby]

James, Tim,

There most certainly is a tradition on the government side, though it's been distorted in recent years by having a Deputy Prime Minister (Heseltine and then Prescott), which is not a constitutional position.

Originally the prime minister was also Leader of the House (of Commons or Lords, depending where they sat).

Lloyd George during WWI found it too burdomsome to come to the House to answer questions so often, and split the role. The Leader of the House thus became, in effect, the deputy to the prime minister, if not officially, then certainly in the House of Commons.

The Leader of the House has ever since taken PMQs in the absence of the PM. The only exceptions to this have been during brief periods where the PM appointed a DPM. Some of these, e.g Geoffrey Howe, were DPM and Leader of the House at the same time.

There is currently no official DPM. Modern convention is that Ministers in the House debate with their official shadows, so on that basis Theresa May should have led for the opposition on this occasion.

You may remember some years ago when Prescott had an understandable crisis of confidence in his debating skills and ducked out of doing PMQs when Blair was away on several occasions - and PMQs was taken by Robin Cook, then Leader of the House. Who asked Cook the questions? Eric Forth - not the deputy leader of the party, but the shadow Leader of the House.

Incidentally, it's incorrect that there is any tradition of the other leaders absenting themselves just because the PM is away. I don't know where that came from - suspect it was started by Blair during 94-97 - but it's a VERY modern "tradition". I clearly remember Kinnock usually still asked the questions when Thatcher was absent.

[Tony Makara]

"and asks if she wears a clown's outfit when she goes to Cabinet"

Looks like Hazel Blears might have some competition at the big-top. Harman was the first in line for a custard pie in the face today. Hague boxed her ears!

[Steve's an idiot]

Steve, don't be so ignorant. Labour have 286 MPs in England, almost 100 more than the Conservatives. This makes Labour more of an "English" party than the Tories.

You ask what Scottish MPs "are doing here"? The answer is they were elected, which is thankfully something you will never be.

I doubt this editor would allow such comments about Black or Muslim MPs to be published, so why does he allow it against Scots?

[Iain]

Yet agian the Speaker begins PMQ's with questions from Labour.

[Devil's Advocate]

Some of the most ridiculous answers I've ever seen. Harman seemed to accept that the 5 million poor families will be hit badly, but it's ok because the Conservatives opposed the minimum wage and now recgonise that was a mistake.

And the detention without trial answer? Pathetic performance by Harman in my opinion. At least Brown can sleep soundly tonight in the knowledge that he isn't the most inappropriate person to be at the dispatch box.

[Oscar Miller]

Oddly enough I think Michael Crick got it right on the Daily Politics: Hague won on the substance - Harman (maybe) won on the fluff, largely through pre-emptive strikes. But altogether I'd say Harman made a better fist of it than Gordon usually does, showing her boss up.

[Usual Conservative Spin]

Brown was rubbish , Dave wiped the floor with him as usual .

[Tim Roll-Pickering]

Ephraim: 14 years is a long time in which a tradition gets established. You're right that traditionally it was the Leader of the House who stood in (although historically Lloyd George was an abberation and one of a handful of PMs who weren't Leader of their House, it was Winston Churchill in the Second World War who permanently severed the link between the posts in 1942).

As you say, when PMQs was taken by Cook and later Hoon it was indeed the respective Shadow Leader who went up against them - but this was on the basis that the Deputy PM was absent so our Deputy also did not attend.

I think the real question is whether Harman was doing PMQs *as* Leader of the House *or* as the first replacement when Brown is absent. It's the kind of pedantic point that normally doesn't matter, but I think the modern tradition is clear that as Brown's deputy her shadow is Hague.

Do we have a "Shadow Secretary of State for Equalities"? We could have put them up. Or Caroline Spelman as Party Chair...

[Oscar Miller]

I agree with the Editor's verdict and also with Michael Crick on the Daily Politics. Hague won on the substance - Harman won on the fluff (mainly through pre-emptive strikes). Although she peddled the same old infuriating 'Brownies' about the economy she did at least land more blows than Gordon seems capable of and altogether showed him up.

[Non-partisan Conservative View]

Harman did pretty well and held her own against a little bit lack lustre performance from Hague .

[Yet Another Anon]

When Blair didn't do PMQs it was the male deputy leader (John Prescott) not the female Shadow Leader of the House (Ann Taylor) who was first in line to stand in.
It is very much a matter of the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition who speaks for each in PMQs, however strictly speaking the position of Leader of the House of Commons is as close to a position of Deputy Prime Minister as any statutory position is, there is no position of Deputy Prime Minister or First Secretary of State (for the first time since the mid 1990s) - Theresa May is shadowing Harriet Harman and when Michael Hestletines shadow in 1995-97 was John Prescott.

[Steve]

RE: Steve, don't be so ignorant. Labour have 286 MPs in England, almost 100 more than the Conservatives. This makes Labour more of an "English" party than the Tories.

You ask what Scottish MPs "are doing here"? The answer is they were elected, which is thankfully something you will never be.

I doubt this editor would allow such comments about Black or Muslim MPs to be published, so why does he allow it against Scots?

***And you call me a fool!, they were elected "here", where exactly is "here" then?, it certainly wassnt England!, are there MP's elected in £ngland who go up and ask questions in Scotland's Parliament? (EU regional assembly), no, they are barred, so why are they here in the "British" Parliament (Scottish Parliament South) with full voting rights on matters that affect ONLY £ngland, as the McBritish government rules virtually ONLY £ngland!.

And what the hell are you trying to bring the race card into the debate for?, what the hell is "racist" about highlighting the fact that £ngland is run by a scottish Raj?, if you find that offesnive then tough luck and if anyones a fool its YOU!, and methinks a "North British" fool who doesnt want the party to end!.

[Ephraim Gadsby]

I think the real question is whether Harman was doing PMQs *as* Leader of the House *or* as the first replacement when Brown is absent.

She was answering PMQs as Leader of the House (a government role) not deputy leader of the party. If Harriet Harman had been Eduction Secretary (or whatever) she would not have been answering questions today.

Anyway, back to my original point - Harman's response was surprisingly effective to Hague's opener. And it was Hague who raised the gender issue, not Harman.

I still think it's rather pathetic that the opposition leaders these days also disappear when the PM is away. The PM is away on official government business, we know where he is. Where are Cameron and Clegg, what are they doing? Hiding in their rooms? Watching it on TV? I think it's demeaning to their respective offices for them not to turn up like this. What do we pay them for?

[GIRUY]

Steve, you are a numpty. MP's voting rights have not been diminished one iota. Devolution has limited the powers of ministers not the MPs.

By the way, hattie kicked haguie's a*** - so how bad is that for Billy Boy?

[CCHQ Spy]

Hague had a really serious point but spoilt it by rubbish jokes.

In future he should stay more serious:- all the trading of jokes hides what really matters and that's Labour's robbery of 5.3 million low income households.

[Steve]

"You ask what Scottish MPs "are doing here"? The answer is they were elected, which is thankfully something you will never be".

There you have it you English eloi!, they were elected "here" to rule £ngland.

By the way, "here" actually means Scotland, aka the Scottish Region of EU.

And i will never be "elected" eh?, well im in good company then, Broon wasnt elected by any person in £ngland either!, he was elected by his local constituents to represent them on matters NOT devolved to the Scottish Parliament North (in other words virtually NOTHING), he was NOT elected to impose his far-left wing Jock communist agenda on £ngland! - what we have now is a Dictatorship.

This graphic explains perfectly.

http://tinyurl.com/2phpaz

[Peter Harrison]

PMQs didn't become a regular, fixed feature until the 1950s (which isn't to say that it never happened before then, just that it didn't happen at a fixed time every week), so any tradition has had a relatively short life. I believe Harman is Brown's first deputy for PMQs as, although she is not DPM, she is deputy leader of the Labour party. Hague is Cameron's first deputy as senior member of the Shadow Cabinet, so absolutely right that he should face her.

Interesting that she twice resorted to the "won't take lectures" answer - once in response to the abolition of the 10p tax rate, once on detention without trial. As has been well documented, this line is put into the briefing papers the PM or his deputy carries as the "nuclear option", to be wheeled out when you haven't got any better answer. Unfortunately, most of the public aren't aware of this.

[Steve's an idiot]

Breath deeply Steve and keep taking the pills.

[gezmond 007]

Well Done Harriet Harman , She gave William Hague a real bashing !

Even on policy issues she gave Hague as good as she got. Hague is usually very good but he was very average today !

[Ephraim Gadsby]

I believe Harman is Brown's first deputy for PMQs as, although she is not DPM, she is deputy leader of the Labour party.

No no no! She may be Brown's first deputy for PMQs but it is NOT because she is deputy leader of the Labour party. It is because she is Leader of the House, which as has been discussed above is the role which is closest to DPM in the absence of an official Deputy. If she were to be reshuffled to be Secretary for Paperclips she would still be deputy leader of the Party but her replacement as Leader of the House would then deputise in PMQs.

[Jim Mcleod]

Harriet done well, but she made it really look as the Teresa May had chickened out and was "Frit".
Will not do the Party image much good even with the mention of the Baroness

[Stewart Geddes]

Steve Back off! MP's were elected to Westminster from all over the UK as well you know. MSP's and AM's are elected to separate places - as well you know.

If you want to play into the hands of the Scottish Nationalists then carry on, but I would ask you to keep your infantile comments to yourself as people like me want to redress the lack of Conservative MP's from Scottish constituencies and your outbursts only serve to advance the Nats cause.

[David Belchamber]

Hague and Harman were good on the jokes, all very amiable, but Hague won on the substance and Vince Cable disappointed.

You haven't mentioned the one question that really shook Harman and took all the wind out of her sails.

The final question from Peter Bottomley asked about the two different indexes, the CPI and the RPI. Harman floundered completely and lamely said that she would get the Chancellor to write to him.

I do believe the way to demolish Brown is incrementally using such facts whenever possible e.g also interest rates which are NOT lower than elsewhere and unemployment which, with NEETS, is NOT lower than elsewhere.

The thing to do would be for George Osborne to write an article about the impact of the budget and current conditions on the well-being of low earners and try to get it into the Mirror/Sun/News of the World.

[strapworld]

Today, possibly, saw the next Labour Prime Minister. The first Woman Labour Prime Minister. Far far better than Brown and her humour dislodged Haig who looked rather crestfallen.

The Labour Party are finding it hard to defend the raising of the 10p tax level BUT Ms Harman has proved adept throughout her political life to change her spots.

Her colleagues must be muttering that she brought a ray of sunshine on the frontbench. Brown that incompetent will be driven to rage when he sees the replay (as he will). and realises that there is now someone who could and would topple him.

I think today saw the inkling of a change! If may is as bad for the Labour Party as you are suggesting, then stand by for Super Harriet who will do a U turn on almost every policy being pursued by Brown.

Times, I think, are about to get very, very interesting.

[London Tory]

Having met Harman several times in a professional capacity, I can testify that she is not well blessed in the 'sense of humour department'. She would have hated Hague's jokes about the clown, and Margaret Thatcher.

As an ex public school girl, St Pauls I believe, Harriet possesses that irritating brand of ultra serious, patronising 'noblesse oblige' so familiar to people of her ilk. In other words;

"I had it good, my family have it good, and I need to keep the little people in their places so that this state of affairs continues".

Had I been Hague, I would have asked Harman why she does not live in her own London constituency [Camberwell and Peckham]. The answer could have something to do with her recent need for a stab proof vest.

[Peter Harrison]

Just because the Leader of the House is deputising for the PM, PMQs doesn't become "LotH Questions". If it did, we should have put up Teresa May and the Lib Dems should have put up Simon Hughes (and the questions would have been far more constrained). It remains PMQs, so both leaders put up their usual nominated deputies.

[Tony Makara]

London Tory, good points. I think its fair to say that many MPs would end up getting lost if they had to navigate their way around their own constituency. I wonder if there is some sort of data on how many MPs actually represent their home town? A lot of local people resent having a candidate imposed on them. What has Harman got in common with poor and impoverished people in 'her' manor?

[Jim Mcleod]

What has Harman got in common with poor and impoverished people in 'her' manor?

Posted by: Tony Makara | April 02, 2008 at 13:54

Be careful with that one.
People could say the same about DC.
What on earth would he know about the impoverished of this Country?
Please bear in mind who Harman is married to. He probably spent more time in a year with impoverish and working class people in this country than DC has done in a over privileged life-time.

[Jim Mcleod]

What has Harman got in common with poor and impoverished people in 'her' manor?

Posted by: Tony Makara | April 02, 2008 at 13:54

Be careful with that one.
People could say the same about DC.
What on earth would he know about the impoverished of this Country?
Please bear in mind who Harman is married to. He probably spent more time in a year with impoverish and working class people in this country than DC has done in a over privileged life-time.

[Man in a Shed]

To anti Steve Labour Troll - The Conservative received the most votes in England in the last general election.

And anyway who's to say that English Labour MPs wouldn't stand up for English issues - if they weren't tied into MacLabour.

Hague probably judged things right. Whilst it would have been highly entertaining to watch Harman crushed, it would have come over a bullying and gone down badly with female voters. Instead he reminded the electorate that at least the Conservatives care about those struggling on low wages - even if Labour just wants to up tax to spend on its client state.

Plus it encourages MacLabour to put Harman up again ! ( There will be more opportune moments to destroy her. )

[Jim Mcleod]

What has Harman got in common with poor and impoverished people in 'her' manor?

Posted by: Tony Makara | April 02, 2008 at 13:54

Be careful with that one.
People could say the same about DC.
What on earth would he know about the impoverished of this Country?
Please bear in mind who Harman is married to. He probably spent more time in a year with impoverish and working class people in this country than DC has done in a over privileged life-time.

[Jim Mcleod]

MacLabour to put Harman up again ! ( There will be more opportune moments to destroy her. )

Posted by: Man in a Shed | April 02, 2008 at 14:07

Are youn aware that this constant Mac reference along with McBroon is not going down too well the other side of the border.
Conservatives NEED those seats if they are to win.
Conservatives will not win or make inroads up there until they learn to respect the people of Scotland.
Because Conservatives do not like it to have a Scottish PM it does not mean to say they have to dis-respect the Scots.
Bad taste and equally bad manners and NO! I am not a Scot I had a great-great grandfather who was!

[London Tory]

@ Jim Macleod

re: Harman's husband Jack Dromey

# he probably spends more time with impoverish [sic]and working class people than DC has done in a [sic] over privleged life time #

Oh, give me a break my friend.

Is this the same Mr Dromey who as Labour Party treasurer did not have a clue about the dodgy millions which poured into his Party's coffers whilst he slept on the job. Is this the same Mr Dromey who draws a considerable salary, close to £100k pa, in the name of protecting his poor downtridden members from the evils of capitalism. Is this the same Mr Dromey who is now using the internal infuence of Mrs Dromey to be parachuted into a safe seat ?

The Harman wing of Labour- posh, guilt ridden, chippy, untalented, supports the poor of this country in the same way that a noose supports a hanging man.

[Ellesmere Dragge]

Iain at 12:41:

Obviously because, if a Government-side questioner is not called first, then the Leader of the Opposition cannot be called until third spot, at least ten minutes in.

From the other comments here, I see the whining schoolboy brigade are out in force today. When will they realise that Anglo-centric racism is not a mark of decency? Parliament is not yet, thank heaven, entirely populated by accountants speaking Estuary English, with a world-view that stretches, oh, all the way to Watford.

To the main event, though. All Harman had to do was remain standing to claim an honourable draw. She did far better than that. She was greatly helped by Hague: dishing up the girly stuff about women-in-political-life and clothes was off-colour and weak; the "clown" comment too blunt and brutal to be witty. As for the "argument" about low-incomes and taxation, I doubt that will be heard by its target audience. And the rebuttal about basic pay is a valid one: does the Conservative Party recant from its previous principled rejection of the minimum wage? If not, complaints about grinding-the-faces-of the-downtrodden-masses sound inappropriate.

[Jim Mcleod]

London Tory | April 02, 2008 at 14:44

Now that is an excuse not an answer. I did not mention dodgy money re-read what I said.
Jack Dromey DOES mix with one helluva lot of people from all social classes by the very nature of his work. He has done so for donkey's years look at his beginnings.
And like every married couple I would presume they do talk to each other.

[London Tory]

@Jim Macleod

You can just tell that Labour are getting desperate when they play the 'privelege card'. David Cameron achieved a notable First at university- I presume in your world he bought that too, or his parents did for him ?

I know Harriet Harman reasonably well, or did. She lives in Tessa Jowell's constituency, which is more affluent, and where crime is lower. She chose not to send her children to her local state schools, but to selective schools in other areas- contrary to Labour Party education policy at the time. Yet she denies 'ordinary hard working families' [borrowed that from the current Labour Party lexicon], including the poor, the chance to do the same.

That makes her a rank hypocrite, and a bad politician, in my book.

[Iain]

"I doubt that will be heard by its target audience. And the rebuttal about basic pay is a valid one: does the Conservative Party recant from its previous principled rejection of the minimum wage? If not, complaints about grinding-the-faces-of the-downtrodden-masses sound inappropriate."

So basic pay equates to the minimum wage for Labourites?

Labour and its acolytes claim plaudits for bringing in the minimum wage, the problem for them is that most people have an aspiration to earn more than the minimum wage. Unfortunately as the Lords reports on immigration lays out, people whose trade skills used to offer them a reasonable wage are now struggling to better the minimum wage because of Labours mass immigration, and even if they could earn more than the minimum wage, they are getting penalised by Browns tax regime, and Labour and its acolytes think people should be grateful for that? If they do then they are even more out of touch than anybody could have reamed .

[Malcolm Dunn]

Just watched it. Harman did much better than I expected ( but then I did expect a car crash) but on the abolition of the 10p tax band was defending the indefensible so Hague 'won'. However I agree with those who say Hague should be serious when taking PMQ's. Everyone knows he has a first class wit but I would like his questions to reflect the anger and bitterness that I and I suspect many other Conservatives feel at the antics of this government.

[Jim Mcleod]

That makes her a rank hypocrite, and a bad politician, in my book.

Posted by: London Tory | April 02, 2008 at 15:18

Yes, I read your diatribe I still fail to see your point. Point out out the connection between Jack Dromey, mixing with poorer people where the Dromey's send their kids to school, whether she is a hypocrite or not,wwhether she is a bad politician or not, who you know and do not know and how it comes into the equasion. I just cannot see your logic.
Where did you get the idea I was a labour supporter?
I do not support any party in particular.
You are loosing me.
I have never played the privilege card in my life, you are seeing and reading things into a situation that is not there.
Do you also read tea leaves?
Now if you cannot come up with something more logical as I am totally baffled, then I suggest my friend we end the discussion.

[Jim Mcleod]

That makes her a rank hypocrite, and a bad politician, in my book.

Posted by: London Tory | April 02, 2008 at 15:18

Yes, I read your diatribe I still fail to see your point. Point out out the connection between Jack Dromey, mixing with poorer people where the Dromey's send their kids to school, whether she is a hypocrite or not,wwhether she is a bad politician or not, who you know and do not know and how it comes into the equasion. I just cannot see your logic.
Where did you get the idea I was a labour supporter?
I do not support any party in particular.
You are loosing me.
I have never played the privilege card in my life, you are seeing and reading things into a situation that is not there.
Do you also read tea leaves?
Now if you cannot come up with something more logical as I am totally baffled, then I suggest my friend we end the discussion.

[Jim Mcleod]

Everyone knows he has a first class wit but I would like his questions to reflect the anger and bitterness that I and I suspect many other Conservatives feel at the antics of this government.

Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | April 02, 2008 at 15

Well said Malcolm, I agree with you.
I wish to hear serious questions and although we do not always get serious answers. I do not think the H.O.C should be used as a Musical Hall, or serious issues trivilised by after dinner jokes.
He does the Party no favours by his comic hall turns.
PMQ's is neither the time nor the place for it and neither is the Palace of Westminster.
He is there to represent the people not do a comedy act.

[Chris H]

Sorry, until the Tories back PR, why am I supposed to care how many votes they got in England?

[Northernhousewife]

Harriet Harman: next Leader of the Labour Party?
Brilliant.
Yes please,

[ChrisD]

"I doubt this editor would allow such comments about Black or Muslim MPs to be published, so why does he allow it against Scots?"

Good point! I am getting heartily sick of the way that the Scots seem fair game on this site for some pretty puerile jokes and name calling. I note that it does not happen to the Welsh or any other group!
I abhor the way that it has been seen as a good attack line because Brown is Scottish, well here's a newsflash, he is no more popular North of the Border than elsewhere.
In fact he will never be as popular as Blair was in Scotland when Labour were riding high in the polls.
In other breaking news, Brown has as much right to be PM as anyone else elected as an MP in the UK, the fact he is lousy at the job should be enough, but to use the fact that he is Scottish is lazy, counter productive and and nasty negative politics at its worst. Lets leave that type of behaviour to the Labour party. Just remember how Ken and his cronies have sought to attack Boris, it does not work and is very unpleasant to watch.

[Jim Mcleod]

ChrisD | April 03, 2008 at 01:50

I whole heartily agree Chris.
In our Constituency the Members of the Caledonian Society is greater than the difference of the numbers needed to make the Constituency a Conservative gain.
Not whilst this Scots bashing keeps going it is not going to become Conservatives.
A lot of Scots settled here and a daily dose of Scots bashing is counter productive.
Please bear in mind although Scots do have a sense of humour they are a very, very proud race of people, generous to a fault and their hospitality towards people know no bounds.
I spend 3 days per fortnight in Scotland so I speak from experience and not hearsay.
One thing all agree about, they may not all like PM Brown but none would call him lazy quite the contrary they see him as an extremely hard workhorse.