David Cameron and his team will be doing some post-match analysis after his first prime minister’s questions against the new Labour leader. They will be wondering how and why he came off relatively badly against Ed Miliband.
This first encounter may not set the pace for the many years ahead, but it was a good result for Labour. Miliband performed well because:
a] He picked a topic, cuts in child benefit for those in the top income tax bracket, which makes many Tory MPs feel uncomfortable and which resonates in Middle England. He stayed on the subject for as long as he could. And he had two awkward statistics up his sleeve. 1] That the policy hurts families where only one person is working on £45,000 but doesn’t hit families with two earners on just under £44,000. 2] That a family with three children taking home £33,000 after tax would effectively pay an extra 6p in the pound on the basic rate of income tax.
b] He sought to maintain an air of calm, only raising his voice at one moment. Gordon Brown was so aggressive as prime minister that he eventually turned himself into fair game for Tory abuse. Miliband’s tactic is to try to sound like the reasonable politician only wanting to know the truth. Cameron, for all his skills in oratory, may struggle to hit exactly the right note when dealing with the younger, less polished leader of the opposition. Read more
This will be an excruciating afternoon for many quango chief executives sitting by the telephone. Many of them will be praying they don’t hear from Francis Maude, whose call will be as welcome as hearing from the angel of death. This is the afternoon when Britain’s arms-length bodies find out if they are to be thrown on the bonfire.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey