The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

PMQs review: Cameron can't believe his luck

Until now, Cameron could only call Miliband "wrong". Now, he can call him a "flip-flopper".

By George Eaton Published 18 January 2012 14:14

David Cameron, a man whose government has so far blamed everything but its policies for the parlous state of the British economy, finally changed tack at today's PMQs. "The government takes absolute responsibility for everything that happens in the economy," he declared in the manner of a Soviet apparatchik. But given that his party's poll ratings have risen even as growth has fallen, perhaps that's not a surprise.

The Prime Minister's admission took the sting out of Ed Miliband's attack before it had even begun. Could Cameron confirm that he expected unemployment to rise to 2.8m, the Labour leader asked. To which the PM simply replied that the forecasts are now made by the Office for Budget Responsibility ("not fixed and fiddled by ministers") and that he was doing everything he could to help people get back into work. It was a typically platitudinous response but, somehow, it was enough for Cameron to dodge Miliband's attack.

From this point onwards, the session only got worse for the Labour leader. Turning his eye to Miliband's new economic policy, Cameron declared: "last year he marched against the cuts, now he tells us he accepts the cuts, now he's telling us he wants to spend more and borrow more. He's so incompetent he can't even do a U-turn properly." In fact, Labour's new stance is not the contradictory mess that some suggest. The cuts are harming the economy, Balls and Miliband say, so we won't be able to reverse them. It's not post-neoclassical endogenous growth theory. But in the bear pit of PMQs, all nuance is lost. Cameron couldn't believe his luck. Until now he has only been able to call Miliband "wrong", now he can call him a "flip-flopper", a far more potent charge as Nick Clegg will testify.

"What he needs to do is change course!" an increasingly exasperated Miliband cried. To which Cameron, with the nonchalance of a man brushing away a fly, replied: "he changes course every day, he's an expert in changing course." Labour's hope is that its new stance will earn it long-term credibility even at the expense of short-term popularity. But amid Cameron's onslaught, some must fear that it will lose both.

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Tags: PMQs review

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25 comments

Wed, 2012-01-18 22:41 — Awake!

Foxy
'One minute we are told it isn't going to happen, the next we are going to give " careful " consideration for any request from the IMF.'
Great line, in stitches with that one... u are a comic genius. I say that most sincerely and genuinely. Thank you.

Wed, 2012-01-18 23:09 — raymond392

I watched PMQ's what I did see was a disgraceful attack on Dennis Skinner for askinga quetion that he did not have an answer for why bring the discredited Andy Coulson in the heart of the government and the PM response call Dennis Skinner a dinosaur a bloody disgrace to call a man who has given a lifetime of service to the people and the country and ask questions the rest of us would like to ask but do not get the chance but would like to hear the answers to, the PM's cheap throw away remark towards an elder statesman of the House of Commons is unforgivable and a disgrace.

Thu, 2012-01-19 00:37 — Olu Ojedokun (not verified)

George, for an objective coverage see: http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/7586703/the-lesson-from-todays-pm...

Wed, 2012-01-18 14:19 — Olu Ojedokun (not verified)

Did we watch the same PMQs? I beginning to believe that no matter what Ed does you lot have it in for him!

Wed, 2012-01-18 14:25 — Andy G (not verified)

Even ConservativeHome said Ed Miliband had a good PMQs. Crticisim is fine when it's justified, but this is just churlish.

Wed, 2012-01-18 14:33 — David (not verified)

I've not seen PMQs yet, but I often find there is a difference between what certain people in the NS write and what is happening in the real world...

Wed, 2012-01-18 14:34 — Whig (not verified)

@Olu - I think it's safe to say that the New Statesman does not have it in for labour leaders. Fact is Milliband is not up to the job and Labour should get someone else in such as Alan Johnson.
@AndyG - if conservativehome are praising Milliband then Labour has a problem because they are praising him because he's an easy opponent.

Wed, 2012-01-18 14:48 — Mrs,M L Bonwick-Jones (not verified)

ConsevativeHome are being nice Ed Miliband has had a bad week!
He was more focused then usual i will give him that but he went on a easy subject for p&Q's Unemployment is a good topic as the goverment needs to appear responsible and in control and ed Miliband made David Cameron as usual appear that!
May i also mention those unemployment figures, the last goverment measured youth unemployment differently they did not include those on work schemes who were unemployed on the unemployment figures so things never looked too bad!
ed bringing up the Tory party of the 1980's was that a good idea -Michael Foot!
Glad to hear that when David Cameron is in Strasburg next week he will be bringing up the human rights issues regarding this person we cannot deport and thr human rights in general.I'm not too sure about the remark to Dennis Skinner saying as a dinosaur he is a national institution!

Wed, 2012-01-18 14:50 — DL (not verified)

I thought Ed had a mostly good day today, he sounded strong to start with and only slightly stumbled towards the end. He managed to make Cameron sound a bit narky, which some will claim as a victory in itself.

However... previously they were saying we should spend more to get out of a recession, but now they take the line they'd cut more. They have lost the plot and better start focusing on other areas where they can succeed.

Wed, 2012-01-18 14:56 — Andy G (not verified)

@Whig I also watched PMQs myself & don't recognise the description of it. "Amid Cameron's onslaught". Just didn't happen did it.

Wed, 2012-01-18 15:01 — Mel Davis (not verified)

Where did Cameron have an 'onslaught'? Please, he couldn't even answer a question on youth unemployment! Miliband clearly won this round, he was assured and confident and given the constant scrutiny of his leadership lately, I thought he was great. Why don't you do something useful NS and stop having a go at Miliband and turn your fire as to why the economy is failing and unemployment rising under Flashman

Wed, 2012-01-18 15:09 — super huey (not verified)

@Mel

You can shout all you want but the truth is NS want Ed out too... he's weak and incompetent and the team he leads are all fools.

Ed can do well when he nit picks the stats but when it comes to play at the big boy's yard he just can't cut it. Labour just doesn't have a clear idea of where it needs to go, what policies they need and to develop.

We should bet on whether Ed can stick it out until the end of the year or if Balls back stabs him to take the reins...

Wed, 2012-01-18 15:16 — richy (not verified)

@whig Are you serious about alan johnson? I cant imagine anyone less likely to win back voters to labour than a former member of the new labour establishment? He admitted not knowing much about economics after accepting the shadow treasury brief...

Wed, 2012-01-18 15:29 — Awake!

So Milliband wins the round, CLEASRLY, conhome are agreeing, and NS see it diffrently.
Oh oh, has Gerge Eaton just made a terrible mistake?

Wed, 2012-01-18 15:36 — Awake!

'Is this a dagger i see before me'
tut tut...
So much is revealed today... the jackals are using NS, an institution , to further their own ends. What backroom deal has been done I wonder? Now we understand why some pieces are so utterly skewed? How long before my post is censored?

Wed, 2012-01-18 15:51 — Mrs,M L Bonwick-Jones (not verified)

More opportunistic moaning from Miliband. I forgot to mention when Gordon Brown Left office youth unemployment was 944.000 and those were the figures that were prehaps tampered with - which will not be happening now!
There is also the little issue of the Euro Crisis that has plunged Europe back into recession and they are our biggest trading partners!
Miliband should beware of the ides of March! and oh yes to compare Cameron with Thatcher and Himself with Foot - Silly boy!

Wed, 2012-01-18 16:08 — kenelm (not verified)

Who cares about PMQs, I don't. But I do care about the real effects this government is having.

Wed, 2012-01-18 16:23 — Union Steve

The econoney is failing, the cuts are killing any growth,we country is crying out fot an alternative and we go and Balls it up by agreeing with the bastards!

Wed, 2012-01-18 16:44 — ChrisL (not verified)

It was the New Statesman who campaigned for Ed Mili.
He should appoint Kevin Maguire from the Mirror as his Adviser.He attacks Cameron every day in a clever incisive way.

Wed, 2012-01-18 17:10 — Marathonman (not verified)

Caneron is a smarmy, slippery little shit. I'm don't know why he bothers opening doors, when he just ooze right under them.

Wed, 2012-01-18 17:11 — Richard Morris (not verified)

I have to say that I think Milibands position is perfectly clear - I've written it up here if anyone's interested. http://aviewfromhamcommon.blogspot.com/2012/01/ed-milibands-position-is-...

Wed, 2012-01-18 17:35 — Hugh Markey (not verified)

Cameron puts everything into the last round at PMQs hoping to influence the judges.
Why? Dave could fall flat on his face or suffer a severe mauling and yet the media, electronic and print, would give him the verdict.
Some of Milliband's nominal supporters claim he couldn't punch his way out of a wet paper bag and side with right-of-centre commentators no matter how well he spars.
Every leader of the Labour Party receives a bad press and only Harold Wilson was able to slip the punches. He never won outright even against the Scottish laird who - in the pre-war Appeasement period, was part of the Chamberlain coterie - 'Lord' Home or Sir Alec Douglas to give him his commoner title.
Should Cameron and Ozzie win victory at the next general election there'll be only one element to blame - the electorate. And boy will they pay for it!

Blood Sport

Wed, 2012-01-18 18:18 — E Hart (not verified)

Who cares about the flip-flopping?

The real issue is whether decisions are right. The journos like this because they haven't the wit to unravel the economics and they are as wedded to sound-bites as the deadbeat politicians. It is all style over substance.

Cameron's rhetoric is at odds with reality. In the end he will be standing on a midden of his own making proclaiming how wonderful it is. He is on a journey into manifest idiocy and the divergence between fact and fiction is only going to get more untenable as he blathers on.

Miliband is showing a degree of arrogant opportunism in that he has largely written off dismantling the idiocy of the government's position on the assumption that Labour will be a shoe-in at the next election. This is highly unlikely as the electorate will be faced with three discredited and incompetent political parties all offer the same prospectus and all claiming - without any evidence - to be Britain's salvation.