Prime Ministers Questions has been a bit of a pantomime for some considerable time now. John Major was probably the last PM who actually tried to answer questions put to him by his parliamentary colleagues at the, back then, twice weekly event – and look what happened to him!
Tony Blair, who hated ‘PMQs’, reduced the session to once a week, and over time became a master at using the occasion to simply point score off his political opponents, whilst managing friendly questions from his own backbenchers.
Gordon Brown continued little from Blair’s New Labour style of government; but he too seldom addressed questions directly from the dispatch box and he was as adept as his predecessor at batting away any challenging scrutinising from MPs, albeit with a far less charm.
David Cameron has carried on with this unfortunate tradition and practice since becoming Prime Minister in 2010, and following his victory on May 7th has adopted a style that was described by Labour’s acting Leader Harriet Harman this week as “gloating”, telling him to “show a bit more class.”
I have to say that I have been surprised by Cameron’s tone at PMQs, as he takes every opportunity to patronise and tease Labour members in a way that may be fitting for a dormitory bully at a public school, but is hardly befitting of the country’s leader.
I hope that this new found sneering approach is a temporary aberration, born out of a victory that one senses he still can’t quite believe. Sooner rather than later his own backbenchers will be harrying him over the EU, immigration, the human rights act and who knows what else. Members from all sides of the house will only enjoy his discomfort just that little bit more if he continues to act with the pomposity that he is demonstrating right now.
He would do well to remember the phrase ‘be kind to people on your way up the ladder…