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Cameron wipes floor with Miliband at PMQs

Michael Crick | 14:56 UK time, Wednesday, 1 December 2010

David Cameron's quick trip back from Zurich was well worth it. He wiped the floor with Ed Miliband at Prime Minister's Questions, absolutely hammered him.

It was a huge mistake for Miliband to taunt Cameron with a William Hague quote about the Tories front bench being the "children of Thatcher", for Cameron inevitably retorted that Miliband was the "son of Brown".

That had government MPs in rapture, and dismayed members on the Labour benches.

Why instead didn't Miliband raise the Wikileaks remarks from Mervyn King about Cameron and Osborne's lack of experience and tendency to think of things only in terms of politics?

One thing Ed Miliband needs to learn is to stop repeating so many of his phrases, and sub-clauses. I imagine he does it to make himself heard above the noise, and to add emphasis, but it makes him look hesitant, nervous, indecisive and weak.

But one piece of advice for Cameron. He should avoid looking a touch too cocky when he has the upper hand.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    TAUNTING AND SQUIRMING

    Yarooh! Old Quelchie just sits on his silly commode and lets that Cadmoron get away with rotton jibes instead of answers. Hardly Cricket old bean.

  • Comment number 2.

    poor little Ed - and he looks more like a hyper thyroid version of young Dracula every time I see him...

  • Comment number 3.

    Michael I think you need a rest -

    Cameron was shown up over his constant misrepresentation of the roots of the economic crisis.

    He glibly plays to gallery when he should be explaining his plan for jobs and growth. Doesn't he care about ordinary peoples lives?

    When is he ever going to answer a questions.

    Cameron was made to look shallow, glib and heartless.

    Where you are right is that Ed needs to wait until the tories stop shouting to get his point across -

  • Comment number 4.

    It was a huge mistake for Miliband to taunt Cameron re the Tories front bench being the "children of Thatcher", for Cameron inevitably retorted that Miliband was the "son of Brown".
    Gordon Brown may not have been the best speaker in the world (which I think often frustrated him) but he had a good head for finance. Don't forget it was Gordon Brown who pushed for the Tobin Tax at the last G20 that he attended. If the Tobin Tax had flown across the EU, what would be the level of austerity now being faced by Europeans, especially in Ireland, Greece, Portugal...
    Well, Ed, I don't think it's such a bad thing, being thought about as the "son of Brown"? If you could put some of Brown's ideas into pretty words, you might find it beneficial to yourself and the country. Also throwing a phone now and then is better that reverting to crapper talk like s...t.
    Perhaps, one of the key problems with the world right now is the lack of experience among the US and UK leaders, and yes, their tendency to think of things only in terms of politics?
    As for Ed Miliband repeating so many of his phrases, I've found that this is a sign of feeling weak, feeling unheard, wondering if you wull ever be heard. It makes him look hesitant, nervous, indecisive and...very weak.
    As for Cameron looking a touch too cocky, I've found that this is a sign of not having had that many moments during which your cockiness gets the upper hand.
    I know there will be those in the UK who think I'm daft, but I truly wish that Gordon Brown were in the PM's chair, taking on Obama, who would likely be hiding under the chair so as not to be struck by a flying opbject.

  • Comment number 5.

    WHAT HAPPENED TWIXT CUP AND LIP? (#4)

    "but he had a good head for finance."

    If Brown was a financial wizard (with long established connection with USA) why did he have no idea what was coming? There were those who DID know.

  • Comment number 6.

    " He should avoid looking a touch too cocky when he has the upper hand".

    But don't they all? TB was the worst imho.

    PS I think Cameron said, 'I'd rather be a child of Thatcher than a son of Brown'. It was good, but perhaps too good. In other words could he have been tipped off about what Ed was going to say?


  • Comment number 7.

    Too true balancedthought!

    Michael Crick are your political petticoats showing here, or are you doing the shallow 'his is bigger than his' type analysis?

    Cameron was very close to appearing just like the bullying Bullingdon Boy he once was ... whereas Ed Miliband was appropriately serious about the damage that the CSR cuts and VAT rise will do to the poorly paid, unwaged and long term sick, not to mention the long term effect on the UK economy. In my book, Cameron showed that he really doesn't give a damn.

    In short your assessment of 'who has won' seems to rest on such very shallow criteria as to be meaningless... and is not worthy of your clear intelligence.

  • Comment number 8.

    Just switched off Newsnight because Peter Hain has been on. His opening criticism of the Conservatives is his claim that they agreed with New Labour's economic policies in the run up to the credit crunch and the banking crisis, but blame them for causing it now. Well a) the other party in the coalition didn't and b) just so he's reminded, the Conservatives were the opposition and Labour were the government, they were in power and they, as no government before, were in the business of information management while being privy to vital economic statistics that others were not. They WERE the government, the Conservatives were not.

    A weak, pathetic apology for an argument, and if that's the best they can come up with then I think the coalition is more secure than we may first have thought!

  • Comment number 9.

    '8. At 11:12pm on 01 Dec 2010, TMR wrote:
    Just switched off Newsnight because Peter Hain has been on. His opening criticism of the Conservatives ...,


    Sound reasoning.

    Things go badly for one party, so bring in one trooper from said party not to talk about that but try and bluster and distract. Makes perfect news value sense. Not.

    Think I'll give the iPlayer catch-up a miss if this is the best that can be (stage) managed.

    Did Emily ever front up with the big Wikileaks secret she alluded to so coyly in her 'must watch' email?

  • Comment number 10.

    milliband wasn't hammered at all.

    the two leaders really engaged with each other. Milliband knows that all the obvious questions have been set pieced by Cameron's team. like last week milliband come from left field and unnerved cameron by ignoring all the theatrics and going straight for the policy point.

    ok, milliband lost it a bit in the shilly shally stage - when i would also agree cameron just looks like an upper class bully - how are parents and teachers supposed to guide kids if this is what the PM gets up to???? - but remember, because sure as hell cameron does, that millliband is still learning... the real proof will come in the following weeks. cameron's on the ropes and he knows it!

  • Comment number 11.


    Some of the posters on here must have watched a different version of events to me, Milliband put in a performance worthy of Menzies Campbell at his worst.

    At the end of Milliband's questions, I could hear the Tories shouting "more!".

  • Comment number 12.

    "millliband is still learning... the real proof will come in the following weeks. cameron's on the ropes and he knows it!"

    Do you mean Ed Miliband with just the one L? Of course he's learning, you can't help it when you start off knowing so little. I love his term 'the squeezed middle'. Sounds like a woman in a corset to me but it's Ed's way of saying the middle class without actually using the un-PC 'c' word. Everyone is being squeezed, not just the middle class, but Ed knows that to win the next election he needs to con the middle class once again into thinking that Labour are on their side like Blair and Brown tried before him. I don't fancy his chances much I must say.

  • Comment number 13.

    Just watched PMQ's on Democracy Live. Any unbiased assessment could not lead to the conclusion that Cameron "wiped the floor" with Miliband. Utterly ridiculous.

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