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25 April 2012

PMQs review: Cameron’s anger boils over

An easy win for Miliband against a red-faced Cameron.

By George Eaton

With the country officially in recession and a cabinet minister’s career on the line, today’s PMQs was always likely to be an easy win for Ed Miliband. And so it proved. In the circumstances, David Cameron’s performance was far from disastrous but, as Miliband put it, he is now shrouded by a “shadow of sleaze”.

Some will question Miliband’s decision to devote just two of his six questions to the economy but, on this issue, Cameron performed better than expected. His argument that “the solution to a debt crisis cannot be more debt” is one that will continue to resonate with many as the eurozone nears the precipice. Conversely, his attack on Labour for “gettting us into this mess” is one that is proving ever less effective with the passage of time.

It was on Jeremy Hunt that Cameron came unstuck. Challenged by Miliband to defend Hunt’s position, he merely replied that the Leveson inquiry should be allowed to proceed and that it was important to hear “every side of the story”. Yet as Miliband noted, it is Cameron, not Leveson, who is responsible for his ministers’ conduct. The resignation of Adam Smith, Hunt’s special adviser, this morning suggests that the government is, in fact, pre-judging the outcome of the inquiry. Oddly, however, Miliband failed to question Cameron on the revelation that he did discuss the BSkyB bid with James Murdoch. The strongest charge against the PM is that Hunt was doing his master’s bidding.

The exchanges ended with a red-faced Cameron shouting, “I don’t duck my responsibilites, what a pity he can’t live up to his!” That wasn’t the only flash of anger from the PM. In response to a question from Labour MP Shabana Mahmood on the recession, he haughtily remarked: “well read”. Cameron was alleging that the question had been pre-written but to many it sounded like yet another put-down of a female MP.

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