VERDICT: "A clear victory for David Cameron. Not just because his performance was strong - and it was - but I sense we've reached a tipping point. The country has realised that all of the massively expensive government activity is not preventing the developed world's worst recession and a potentially devastating loss of international market confidence in the pound and the wider UK economy."
Highlights, not verbatim:
12.25pm: In a ridiculous intervention Dennis Skinner blames "Tory fat cats" for the banking crisis. In a different times, says the Beast of Bolsover, they'd be called "the enemy within".
12.23pm: Edward Garnier (the man who nearly became Shadow Attorney General) presses the PM again on transparency of MPs' expenses. It is particularly offensive, he says, for MPs to be hiding their expenses at a time when so many are losing their jobs.
12.18pm: Nick Clegg warns that the UK economy is on the edge of a cliff and Labour's half measures are not helping. Brown lists Labour's initiatives on recapitalisation, the VAT cut and lending guarantees as consistent with other international governments' initiatives.
12.16pm Cameron concludes his questions by saying that the country has lost confidence in the government and a recovery is impossible without such confidence. An angry Brown says that Cameron is bringing no new ideas to fighting the recession. He is out of step, the PM says, with all other world governments and out of his depth.
12.13pm: Cameron asks Brown to confirm that the taxpayer has already lost £20bn on the recapitalisation policy. Brown doesn't answer but responds by saying that the Tories are isolated internationally with no other serious party supporting fiscal restraint at this time. Cameron comes back with the line that Brown is isolated in Britain as the only person thinking he is doing a good job.
12.10pm: David Cameron says that Brown has been behind the curve on all economic issues. Conservatives, he continues, have been setting the pace on insuring bank lending and calling for changes to the terms of bank recapitalisation. Responding to Labour jibes about Ken Clarke he says that the difference between Ken Clarke's legacy and Brown's is that one Chancellor bequeathed a golden legacy and the other wrecked it. In return, Brown quotes Ken Clarke's words that Tory European policy as "dotty" and "crackpot".
12.08pm: David Cameron responds by saying that neither did Obama propose a National Insurance-style hike on medium income workers. Picture of Ken Clarke on Tory frontbench.
12.04pm: Cameron gets to his feet: Today's rise in unemployment, the pound falling and debt rising we have had fresh confirmation that the UK economy is least well-placed to weather the world recession. What is the Prime Minister's response to a lack of confidence from world markets in the Government's policies? After listing some of Labour's measures Brown says one thing Obama did not say is 'My fellow Americans, Let's do nothing."
12.02pm: Douglas Carswell MP asks Mr Brown why he is whipping Labour MPs to keep certain expenses details secret. Why should there be one rule for members of the public and one for MPs? Brown replies by saying that transparency will be greater in the UK Parliament than in many other legislatures.
I'm hoping for some anger from Mr Cameron today. I got angry after reading Fraser Nelson's column yesterday in which he struggled to communicate the seriousness of Britain's economic plight. Mr Cameron could try Policy Exchange's 100 Reasons Britain Needs To Change.
Tim Montgomerie
I don't know about anger . . . I'm looking forward to seeing Ken Clarke next to Cameron . . .
Posted by: Felicity Mountjoy | January 21, 2009 at 11:30
What should DC go on?
- Can the Prime Minister assure the country that Britain's credit rating IS NOT on the verge of being downgraded to AA?
- My MPs will be voting against his plans to keep MPs expenses secret. Why is he ordering his MPs to keep their use of taxpayers' money secret?
- Can the Prime Minister tell us where he's going to find the money for his latest bail-out? If he's borrowing it, who's he borrowing it from?
Other than that, I suppose we'd better brace ourselves for another Obamagasm.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 21, 2009 at 11:32
From Fraser Nelson's article:
"Credit booms and asset booms are as old as capitalism. But, this one was especially big, both in the UK and overseas. Because inflation was capped by benign effects from globalization over recent years, this credit boom was allowed to run until it collapsed under the weight of worsening credit quality, high debt service burdens, high debt rollover, and extraordinarily high house prices".
Was this anything to do with you, Mr Brown?
This is why I am also angry; why has Her Majesty's opposition failed over the last two years to nail Gordon Brown with this statement of the facts?
If all his deceptions and fiascos had been shown up at the time of their happening, I doubt we would have had a third term for Labour - or they would have got in with only a tiny overall majority.
Posted by: David Belchamber | January 21, 2009 at 11:38
Suprised we haven't had Gezmond on yet saying how bad David Cameron was and how brilliant Brown was. Oh wait, it hasn't started yet? I'll give him until 12.01
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | January 21, 2009 at 11:46
Douglas Carswell, well done.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 21, 2009 at 12:03
Hi Malcolm , just watching ! Hope you are well
Posted by: gezmond007 | January 21, 2009 at 12:10
Hi Malcolm , I think Cameron just edged it !
Posted by: gezmond007 | January 21, 2009 at 12:17
Brown awful - evasive, lacking a coherent response. He hasn't clue.
BROWN IS A 'SPENT FORCE
Posted by: Wiliam Blake's Ghost | January 21, 2009 at 12:21
This is from the official Labour website. Under the section ECONOMIC STABILITY AND FULL EMPLOYMENT.
"Under Labour we have the...highest levels of employment since records began"
"We now have the second highest employment rate"
Isn't that false advertising given today's shocking unemployment figures? Or Doesn't the Labour party update its website?
Posted by: Tony Makara | January 21, 2009 at 12:22
Rattled, and just look at the Labour faces behind Brown.
They know that Judgement Day cannot be postponed for ever.
Posted by: London Tory | January 21, 2009 at 12:24
Is he ever going to actually answer a question?
Posted by: Libbie Miller | January 21, 2009 at 12:28
Brown tried the Ken Clarke/Europe attack, and it died on its arse. Ken just looked as blokey and jovial as ever.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 21, 2009 at 12:29
Interesting that on the day that unemployment touched 2 million, the only Labour MPs willing to put their heads above the parapet at PMQs were those two tired old class warrior has beens, Campbell and Skinner.
Where are all those thrusting and ambitious young Fabians that the Guardian speak so much about ? :)
Not "frit", surely .....
Posted by: London Tory | January 21, 2009 at 12:33
'Cameron comes back with the line that Brown is isolated in Britain as the only person thinking he is doing a good job'
Very good line and very true. Brown does believe he is doing a good job despite the economy nosediving and the fact that he finds himself behind in the polls by double figures. The man is living in his own world.
Posted by: Adam | January 21, 2009 at 12:33
Tory Fat Cat Bankers
Yeah right like Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin. Shamed former CEO of RBS. Knighted by Blair and Brown.
The Fat Cats are all Brown's old mates!
The 'Beast of Bolsover' is a senile old fool!
Posted by: William Blake's Ghost | January 21, 2009 at 12:36
I agree Cleethorpes. Given the gravity of the economic situation, Brown's attacks on Clarke looked politically cheap.
Posted by: Conservative Home | January 21, 2009 at 12:36
It's only a matter of time before Gordon Brown's standard answer to the first question on the Order Paper becomes: "This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others just like Barack Obama does, unlike the do nothing party opposite."
Posted by: DB | January 21, 2009 at 12:39
"This is from the official Labour website. Under the section ECONOMIC STABILITY AND FULL EMPLOYMENT.
"Under Labour we have the...highest levels of employment since records began"
"We now have the second highest employment rate"
Isn't that false advertising given today's shocking unemployment figures? Or Doesn't the Labour party update its website?"
I think the current downturn has taken Labour by suprise. They really do not understand how badly they have screwed up the economy. Some Labour Mp's are so out of touch that they see "green shoots of recovery" and a "houseing boom". They talk about "help for the unemployed", and "welfare reform". I have always felt that Labour didn't have a clue, these foolish statements tend to prove that point.
To quote D.C. "give us an election".
Posted by: The Bishop Swine | January 21, 2009 at 12:42
"Libbie", when Brown does answer a question, it usually relates to a different topic! Also, it's becoming increasingly clear, that Brown is getting "rattled", so to speak. David Cameron's peformances in parliament are improving, no doubt about that.
It was good to see Douglas Carswell, drawing attention to the transparency issue, by the way. We certainly need more like him!
Posted by: Julian L Hawksworth | January 21, 2009 at 12:50
What on earth was Bob Spink on?
The bitter taste of sour grapes?
Posted by: Mike Wood | January 21, 2009 at 12:50
ConservativeHome said:
"I agree Cleethorpes. Given the gravity of the economic situation, Brown's attacks on Clarke looked politically cheap."
I would go further they looked like a desperate attempt to sow discontent. He made the comments in the clumsy manner of an amateur comedian at a badly attended village hall show. His comments about Ken sounded like very soar grapes indeed, most especially after Dave had pointed out that Brown had squandered the golden economic legacy that had been handed him by Ken Clarke. Brown lost today’s PM’s questions by a landslide.
Posted by: The Bishop Swine | January 21, 2009 at 12:51
Love your comment DB!
Posted by: Tim Montgomerie | January 21, 2009 at 12:54
You're just saying that Gezmond to flatter me. You really think Brown was absolutely wonderful don't you?
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | January 21, 2009 at 12:58
The Tory position is entirely disingenuous - that's also known as "spin" but none of you have the guts to admit it as such.
Namely: Bailing out banks is a waste of taxpayers' money.
And letting banks collapse will be cheaper, will it?
Could some Tory Troll please explain how, whilst also explaining how such a collapse could be morally acceptable in terms of such a situation's impact on the less well-off when it has been the actions of the more well-off that have caused the current crisis in the first place?
Posted by: Robert Miller | January 21, 2009 at 13:19
I'm sure the minions in Brown's bunker *are* telling him that he is doing a great job. It's just a shame that they haven't been up to street-level recently to survey the carnage above them.
Posted by: GB£.com | January 21, 2009 at 13:28
"Could some Tory Troll please explain how, whilst also explaining how such a collapse could be morally acceptable"
Moral acceptability has nothing to do with it, it's simply economics. The banks have made a load of duff investments that need to be liquidated ASAP so money can be freed up to go where it's needed. Yes, this will be a very painful process. Throwing money at the situation will just delay this.
"in terms of such a situation's impact on the less well-off when it has been the actions of the more well-off that have caused the current crisis in the first place?"
The crisis occurred because interest rates have been help too low which gave distorted market signals. Blaming "the bankers" might make people feel good but it's not that simple.
Posted by: RichardJ | January 21, 2009 at 13:30
I notice Brown's worst PMQs performance EVER has gone totally unnoticed on Labourlist, but they have laid the blame for the Expenses vote U-turn at the Tories' door.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 21, 2009 at 13:32
What on earth was Bob Spink on?
The bitter taste of sour grapes?
Posted by: Mike Wood | January 21, 2009 at 12:50
and exactly why any support from me for UKIP in the commons will not happen. Keeping an MP for the sake of having one is pointless which seems to be the case as he basically votes against his own parties stance on far too many important issues. This guy should have just defected to Labour. UKIP should dump him too.
Cameron did very well indeed today.
Posted by: meli | January 21, 2009 at 13:34
does anybody know where I can watch the PMQs... for the last few weeks whenever I've gone to number10.gov.uk it always has a 'page not found' message... a whole new type of spin: ignoring reality!
Posted by: StevenAdams | January 21, 2009 at 13:35
'Could some Tory Troll please explain how, whilst also explaining how such a collapse could be morally acceptable in terms of such a situation's impact on the less well-off when it has been the actions of the more well-off that have caused the current crisis in the first place?'
Well, I don't know about a troll. I'm just a man with an opinion, but allowing the weaker banks to collapse would'nt have affected the less well-off at all. Their money (up to £50,000 at present) is guaranteed so they wouldn't have lost a penny. Maybe those billions would have been better re-directed elsewhere instead of letting Brown throw billions down the pan.
A good performance by Cameron and more evasion from Brown. The jibes at Clarke backfired completely. Everybody knows Ken's position on Europe. That's how afraid the labour front bench are of him, they have to try and marginalise him straight away, I can't wait to hear this big beast's roar in response. Brown has achieved what even Thatcher failed to do, he's completely destroyed the labour party as a political force, they will be the third placed party within 10 years.
Posted by: rascalrob | January 21, 2009 at 13:46
Good show David Cameron and I'm pleased he got in the 'Let's have an Election' again.
Brown is looking really sad and well worn using these same old silly phrases of do nothing, and as for sucking up to the Obama teat I think people can see through that.
If Obama's plan goes belly up, Brown will obviously have a "Britain makes its own choices in these matters" plan at the ready I assume and it's really quite tedious now.
Well done David and well done Ken Clarke for 'smiling wryly' at the Brown buffoon.
Posted by: rugfish | January 21, 2009 at 13:59
The government fails to recognize that we have to let the huge amount of debt in the system die. If that means letting the economy cool then so be it.
The government's current policies are aimed at keeping the debt/credit culture afloat, this is the worst type of short-termism.
My advice to the opposition would be to forget about trying to save the credit-boom-economy, let it die, and start planning for the post recessionary era.
Clearing the deck of bad lenders, borrowers and business will allow us to rebuild the economy again. Only this time with the right balance, so that our economy isn't entirely dependent on services and credit.
Posted by: Tony Makara | January 21, 2009 at 14:05
Attlee in 1951....
Wilson in 1970....
Callaghan in 1979....
Gordon will soon join them....
Posted by: Fredrik Ingemarsson | January 21, 2009 at 14:13
Steven Adams said:
"does anybody know where I can watch the PMQs... for the last few weeks whenever I've gone to number10.gov.uk it always has a 'page not found' message... a whole new type of spin: ignoring reality!"
Strangly I can longer access Labourhome (not that it bothers me much) whenever I try I get an access denied message. Prehaps they think that if we can not see or debate with them, we will go away and forget what a mess they are making of our Nation.
Posted by: The Bishop Swine | January 21, 2009 at 14:15
Steven Adams :
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Home.aspx
Posted by: rugfish | January 21, 2009 at 14:25
Let us be frank with each other, today ´ s
Labour Party is living in an alternative dimension where black is white, up is down,
good is evil and.... you get the idea.
Conservative campaign theme in the next General Election -
Labour is ´nt working,
again....
Posted by: Fredrik Ingemarsson | January 21, 2009 at 14:26
I thought Fraser Nelson was rather weak and mostly ignored on the BBC Politics PMQs programme. Probably thats what the BBC wanted (as usual).
Posted by: m wood | January 21, 2009 at 14:37
The Bishop: absolutely... it's head in the sand time for Brown et al.
Rugfish: brilliant, thanks for that.
Posted by: StevenAdams | January 21, 2009 at 14:48
What did Bob Spink say to offend you all?
Posted by: David_at_Home | January 21, 2009 at 14:54
"My advice to the opposition would be to forget about trying to save the credit-boom-economy, let it die, and start planning for the post recessionary era."
The problem is like this Tony, there is so much Debt in the system that if we stop the supply to quick, a lot of good business's and solvent people will also get drawn in.
It’s like a drug addicted person, if we stop the supply of the drug (credit) too quick the addict (the Nation) may become very sick indeed. We could loose a mass of the material possessions and still have a good quality of life, but we need to contract with some regard to the knock on effects. A short sharp shock might turn into something far more dangerous. The way I see it American debt has been multiplied by derivative trading but that doesn’t stop the debt being very real indeed. 1 Trillion of dodgy loans at least. Scotland’s Banks bought (it seems) a great deal of the US debt. Watch as the US distances itself from us leaving us with their debt. The US has been very bad for us recently so really a cooling of the “special” relationship to a strategic friendship is very much a necessity. We will have to write off the 90’s , and most of the 00’s as an aberration a time when an American Devil was loosed on the world. A decade when our leader was a suck up to the worse kind of American imperialism. One thing is absolutely certain we are about to experience a very difficult time indeed. That is despite quantities easing and money to cheap to mention. Bush started off his rip off’s with 9-11, and finally swapped a trillion pounds of debt for a shiny badge with a very abdicant Tony Blair. We have been suckered yet again by the very worse sort of shady dealers posing as our friends. Perhaps its time to remind Scotland what Union is worth.!
Posted by: The Bishop Swine | January 21, 2009 at 14:57
The Bishop Swine, what you say is all too true and you make some very telling observations. Government, if it is smart, could order the issue of a new creation of money, specifically for short-term loan to those decent businesses who have been caught up in all this. The loans could later be recalled and the issue of money destroyed so it doesn't artificially expand the money supply. These loans of course could only go out to those who can realistically pay it back. This would provide the much needed liquidity on the supply side.
However the problem of arrested demand is another matter. Personal debt has reached its limit and people just don't have disposable income currently. The retail service sector in particular has been sustained by consumer credit for a long time, as a result that sector has grown too large and has unbalanced our economy, the collapse of a large part of the service sector will be a blessing in disguise in the long run.
It seems the government is afraid to simply take stock and assess the economic situation. The government's attempts to be seen as the 'Do something' party is actually leading them astray and into a borrowing quagmire.
Perhaps now is the time, not to look for a panicky quick-fix, but to let events run their course and ensure that the fundamentals are in place when we do eventually emerge from recession.
As it stands we are likely to come out of this recession having to raise interest rates to counter the imported inflation and expanded money supply that is certain to follow Sterling's depreciation and government spending.
Posted by: Tony Makara | January 21, 2009 at 15:22
I think Cameron should give serious thought to a vote of no-confinence motion,at very least if all the opposition parties support it,Brown would be mortally wounded.
Posted by: Richard | January 21, 2009 at 16:26
Funny but todays PM Questions (or polling data) isnt getting much mention over at Labourlist! haha.
If you are yet to visit then you really should...it will cheer you up no end.
No labour criticism allowed!
Certainly no criticism of Derek Draper
No Debate
Lots of terrible anti-Tory videos (i really hope the public see them as im sure negative campaigning doesnt work over here!)
Non of my comments are posted, they get flagged as trash even though its constructive criticism.
Anyhow...thoughts on PMQs...straight forward DC win,
I had to cringe every time Brown tried to say Obama...it was embarrassing how he tried ANYTHING to say Obama.
Finally...Why does the speaker insist on calling plonkers like The beast of braindead and bob sour grapes??? Oh apart from Labour bias until his dying day!
And im sorry but i dont buy the picked out of a hat line...because it happens too often when you consider there are 650 ish MPs.
It is a total disgrace and we must keep up the pressure to have this terrible speaker sent back to Glasgow where he belongs!
Posted by: DJT | January 21, 2009 at 16:29
Richard @16.26
I would love to see it, but i think Cameron is saving this as his party trick to finally ruin Brown when unemployment hits 3 million.
Seeing Brown sent to the Queen in this way will make all the years of Brown misery we've suffered (and will continue to suffer) worth it in a small way.
I bet sour grapes Spink votes in support of Brown though...that man should be deported, he's actually more vile than Shaun Woodward...and i never thought that could be possible!
Posted by: DJT | January 21, 2009 at 16:33
DJT
Maybe wishful thinking on my part,it would be intresting to see if 'all' the opposition parties would support it,i think it is a fair chance they would.Clegg as called Labour a 'Zombie Government'.
A lot of people like myself,heard from our parents about the 1970's,it took Labour,20 odd yrs,a name change and clause 4 removal to become electable again,where do they go after this?
I am a optimist,I believe one good thing to come from all this is the end of big Government in the eye's of the people being a good thing.
I honestly think we could see the detruction of the Labour Party,into a left-wing,Blairite split party,un-ellectable mess after the GE.
Posted by: Richard | January 21, 2009 at 16:58
Will Gordon Brown be the last Labour PM as David Lloyd George was the last Liberal PM....?
We can only hope !
Posted by: Fredrik Ingemarsson | January 21, 2009 at 17:34
What is the point of a confidence motion. Gordon Brown will win it. No Labour MP wants an election at present.
The election will come when or if there is some sign that the economy is on the turn or when he has to go t.
Nothing or no one is going to force him to call an election. All this talk about lets have an election is nonsense.
Posted by: Jack Stone | January 21, 2009 at 17:43
Am I correct in understanding that America has downgraded the UK financial economy from tripple A? Some reference was made to this in the Politics Show today. If so George Osborne should be flagging this up to a wider audience?
Posted by: Neville | January 21, 2009 at 17:51
Jack Stone makes his first decent point since gracing ConHome with his presence.
Brown's majority is too big to make a no-confidence vote anything other than a wasted exercie, and one that will unify the Labour Party.
The best thing for now is to concentrate on putting forward ideas for the economy, using Ken to savage the government and sowing seeds of discontent among Labour backbenchers with a view to creating leadership speculation of the type we saw last summer.
Labour MPs are in this for the long haul now. The name of the game for them is to hang on until 2010 to maximise their expenses and push as socialist an agenda as they can.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 21, 2009 at 17:57
Neville, I suggested that Cameron should have questioned Brown on our Credit Rating at PMQs on the PMQ thread.
To be down-graded from AAA would be a humiliation on a par with Jim Callaghan begging the IMF in the 70s.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 21, 2009 at 18:01
"where do they go after this?"
Labour needs to cut its loses, and shore up its base by getting rid of the careerists who have alienated the party from its core support. The gross opportunists like Caroline Flint, James Purnell, etc who are so undefined that they could quite easily weld themselves onto any poltical party so long as it meant a chance of a career in politics.
Knowing certain Labour supporters very well, and how they think, the party should build itself around the likes of Yvette Cooper, who, I am told, is one of the few MPs who actually feels pain when Labour are unpopular.
Posted by: Tony Makara | January 21, 2009 at 18:05
Gordon Brown is going down, down, down, down, down, down, down , down, down, down,
down, down, down, down, down, down, down,
down, down, down, down, down, down, down,
down, down, down, down, down, down, down,
down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down,
down, down, down, down, down, down, down,
down, down, down, down, down, down, down,
down, down, down, down, down.............
Posted by: Fredrik Ingemarsson | January 21, 2009 at 18:36
Unsurprisingly, Kevin Maguire and his team saw things differently and scored it 3-1 to Brown
Maybe he was watching another channel
Posted by: Mike Wood | January 21, 2009 at 18:43
Sounds like Maguire was still pissed from his night on the sauce the other day.
Brown bombed. No answers and by trying to throw questions back at DC he just invited Cameron to say "if you want to ask the questions, call an election". The Ken Clarke jibes were painfully bad and gave DC the open goal, which he buried by bringing up the golden legacy. Brown also floundered and flailed on the expenses questions, which was compounded by the fact that what he said at PMQs was reversed 10 minutes later once he realised how bad the publicity would be.
If today's PMQs were a boxing match, it would have been stopped by the referee for Brown's own safety.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 21, 2009 at 18:55
Jack Stone & others.
If the representatives of 70% of the entire voting electorate,voted for a no-confindence vote in a sitting PM,that can not be dismissed.
Even if all the Labour MP's backed him,that would be some 30% of the electorate,and that is how it would be seen by the media,who knows Backbenchers might see the writing on the wall and vote against Brown.
Then with all the opposition united against the PM,again,a massive thing in its self,make the Local elections a Referendum on Brown,personlize it.
Cameron would make clear,if the turout is high & against Labour,after the expected Labour thrashing on 6 June,he will already with the entire opposition vote,call a 2nd vote of no-confidence,after the people have also spoken in a election.
If the locals go the way we all expect,Brown will be on the edge anyway,he will just need a push.
Posted by: Richard | January 21, 2009 at 19:16
Brown is banking on,(no pun intended)a Obama bounce at the g20 meeting,if Cameron held a vote 2 weeks before that,would Obama's advisors tell him to endorse or get close to Brown,i think not.
Posted by: Richard | January 21, 2009 at 19:33
To find how fast you can eliminate your mortgage debt, and retire debt free or finally pay for the kids college education, please go directly to Enter your information directly into the free mortgage pay off
Posted by: Become Debt Free | January 21, 2009 at 20:08
Would a successful VONC HAVE to bring down a government? With NuLab still having a healthy majority, would HM not be able to deny a request for a General Election and ask if there was anyone else from Labour who could form a government?
Although at this stage in a parliament (4 years from the previous GE) an election would not be particularly mis-timed
Posted by: Paul D | January 22, 2009 at 03:04
StevenAdams at 13:35
>>does anybody know where I can watch the PMQs... for the last few weeks whenever I've gone to number10.gov.uk it always has a 'page not found' message... a whole new type of spin: ignoring reality!<<
Yes, that's easy. Daily Politics has the whole thing every Wednesday. You can watch Daily Politics on BBC iPlayer from the Internet.
www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/
Posted by: Steve Tierney | January 22, 2009 at 03:09
When Blair was PM he gave Cameron a good match at PMQs and often came off the better.
Brown has never done so. He is a very boring and poor speaker to say the least, if interrupted can not pick up where he left off, far less than brush it off with a joke as Blair would have done, but has to go back and repeat the words he has already said in his dour, dull and dreary monotone voice. He is a man suited to work in the engine room, the stereotypical Scots Engineer, not one who would shine at The Captain's Table. Cameron as a good speaker and a charmer with a pleasant speaking voice can walk all over him and does.
Nick Clegg? WHO? As an experiment I asked some of the blokes in the canteen at work who Nick Clegg was. The best answer I received was "He's that new striker that Man United are going to sign".
Posted by: Steve Foley | January 22, 2009 at 10:24
Old Skinner makes me laugh! Granted he rightly rages against the reckless bankers who contributed heavily to this economic implosion.
But what about his leader? The architect of bringing this crisis to our shores.
Wasn't it Mr Brown who removed the BoE's supervisory role of the Banks?
And set up the 'asleep at post' FSA?
Who removed house prices from the inflation figures which gave erroneous results and low interest rates for far too long = house price bubble?
And then 'abolished boom bust' with his pump priming of the economy after the 2001 election which allowed too much money into the system, exacerbating the bubble?
Remember ALL bubbles burst.
So after 12 years of Mr Brown inheriting Ken Clarke's 'Golden Legacy', we have unprecedented levels of debt - both Government & Personal. Not to mention the biggest economic crisis in living memory.
Heading for 3 million unemployed.
But Mr Skinner has no need for such detail. Three election victories, large majorities, more legislation than any Government in history, spent unprecedented amounts of tax payers money yet it's still the fault of 'Tory Fat Cats'.
What a world 'The Beast of Bolsover' inhabits...
Posted by: John | January 22, 2009 at 11:18
John, how right you are:
"Wasn't it Mr Brown who removed the BoE's supervisory role of the Banks?
And set up the 'asleep at post' FSA?
Who removed house prices from the inflation figures which gave erroneous results and low interest rates for far too long = house price bubble?
And then 'abolished boom bust' with his pump priming of the economy after the 2001 election which allowed too much money into the system, exacerbating the bubble?
Remember ALL bubbles burst".
A simple message for all of us to repeat.
Posted by: David Belchamber | January 22, 2009 at 17:28
I was glad to see that DC wasn't desperate to link himself to Obama. Brown sought to insert his tongue deep in Obama bottom in virtually every answer. He doesn't realise just how utterly pathetic he looks. He is the weakest man/worm we have ever had as a PM.
Posted by: Tristan Downing | January 23, 2009 at 01:47
Will Gordon Brown be the last Labour PM as David Lloyd George was the last Liberal PM....?
We can only hope !
Posted by: Fredrik Ingemarsson | January 21, 2009 at 17:34
For Britain to go anywhere but down in the next 20 years we have to take this thought seriously.
Posted by: David Sergeant | January 23, 2009 at 12:34
If you are finding yourself at the end of your rope financially, if you have a heavy burden of debt on your shoulders and are looking for a debt elimination system, the first thing you must understand is that debt elimination system is not a debt consolidation system.
Posted by: Be Debt Free @ | February 08, 2009 at 07:01