Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op):Except that part about standing up to the rebels in his party isn't true. As The Telegraph reported just last year (my emphasis):
As the Prime Minister struggles with certain elements in his party over Europe, does he ever think back to an inspirational and visionary Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who faced similar difficulties but stood up to the rebels in his own party and secured a yes vote for staying in Europe? Will he join me in celebrating the centenary of Harold Wilson’s birth next week? Across all parties we should celebrate that great, innovative Prime Minister.
'The final lesson from 1975, particularly for Mr Cameron, relates to the wisdom of allowing ministers the freedom to differ. After the EEC vote, Wilson was able to bring back into the fold ministers such as Tony Benn and Michael Foot who had campaigned for 'No’, preventing a drain of talent from the government. Like Wilson, Mr Cameron also has a small majority and his Government includes Cabinet ministers who might well be inclined to take a different position from him. Allowing them to follow their consciences, will ensure that he too can walk away from the referendum result with his Government intact. To do otherwise would be catastrophic not only for the second Cameron Government, but also the Conservative Party more widely.'
one 'off the cuff' joke about Teresa May wanting to be the next Conservative leader
one 'off the cuff' remark about the loyalty of Michael Gove
no apology for increasing debt, immigration and social inequality during his time in government.
Sorry I forgot to predict Ed Miliband making a stupid joke first, stupid of me.
Teresa May 'off the cuff' remark - Yes
Michael Gove - I think that was who Ed Miliband meant when he mentioned 'the Childrens Minister'
No apology - Of course
'The Labour leader Ed Miliband has joked in the Commons about the prime minister's text correspondence with former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.Listening to 5-Live after PMQs, even the presenter (Shelagh Fogarty?) and John Pienaar agreed that David Cameron had won that exchange of pre-scripted jokes. However the BBC line must always be of Labour success and Tory disaster.
He suggested that after failing to meet with the new French president Francois Hollande last month, Mr Cameron should simply text him the message "LOL".
It comes after Mrs Brooks revealed during her evidence to the Leveson Inquiry last week that the PM had signed off text messages to her in this way, apparently believing it to be an acronym for "lots of love".
However, David Cameron reminded the House that former PM Gordon Brown had his own mobile phone issues, which some newspapers suggested he threw his at staff.'
'Ed Miliband made a schoolboy error in stating that the cuts had choked off growth when they haven’t even started in earnest yet.Channel 4's Fact Checker has done some checking of Ed Milibnad's claims at yesterday's PMQs and lo and behold 'Ed Miliband made a schoolboy error'; is anyone surprised that Ed 'Son of Brown' Miliband advised by Ed 'second Choice' Balls would make a 'schoolboy error'?
In fact, it’s difficult to pin it on the current administration because the shrinking economy may well be a hangover from the previous government’s stimulus package.
Mr Miliband would have been on firmer ground if he’d argued that the GDP figures show the economy may be too weak to withstand the impending cuts. We’ll know if the cuts are too much, too fast in a few months’ time.'
'The cables, obtained by whistleblowing website Wikileaks, also include a string of revelations about Bank of England governor Mervyn King's concern about Mr Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne's lack of experience ahead of May's general election.'Two points:
'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.When even Michael Crick calls PMQs for David Cameron rather than the labour leader you know it must have been a massacre... Strange how the BBC's news coverage is less forthcoming.
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.'
'The Prime Minister: For some people, two weeks is too long. That is the whole point. If a target contributes to good clinical outcomes, it stays; if it does not, it goes.
Now let the right hon. and learned Lady answer a question. Is it your policy- [Interruption.] I know that the right hon. and learned Lady is not involved in the leadership election, which basically involves sucking up to the trade unions, but she is capable of answering a question. Is it Labour policy to cut the NHS?
Mr Speaker: Order. I hope that the right hon. and learned Lady will confine herself-as I know she will want to do-to her role, which is not to answer questions but to ask them.
Ms Harman: Thank you, Mr Speaker, and the Prime Minister has still not answered.'
'1218 Its about time cameron stopped blaming everything on the past 13 years and started answering questions with answers looking to the future. Get over the past 13 yearsQuite incredible as Labour were blaming the last Conservative government right up until the general election.
bhamlabour, birmingham"
"The Government was accused last night of delaying the publication of potentially embarrassing crime figures until after the general election, in contravention of its own rules.The Independent then reports the usual plausible, but incorrect, Labour government explanation:
The Youth Justice Board (YJB) told The Independent that statistics showing the number of crimes committed by under-18s would not be published until the autumn, nearly six months later than the normal publication date. "
"An official for the government agency said that the data was being delayed because of the looming election and the official "purdah" period, which prevents civil servants from releasing overtly party political information."Before explaining why this is a lie:
"But official civil service rules state that "purdah" only begins when an election is called. Senior youth justice sources expressed surprise at the decision of the Government to use "purdah" as an excuse for a delay. They said the publication of crime statistics was not a political act and should not be covered by the "purdah" protocol. The Conservatives said that unless the information was published before the election, the public would be entitled to think that the Government had "something to hide"."
"In real terms – i.e. taking account of inflation – Gordon Brown is wrong.
...
The MoD says Gordon Brown wasn’t talking about real terms growth, but was instead referring to “near cash” rises in the defence budget. “Near cash” is the simplest form of the military budget, the most basic cash figure – without inflation or depreciation taken into account.
According to the Institute For Fiscal Studies, inflation has to be factored in to make spending comparisons meaningful. So Brown was at the very least playing fast and loose with the figures by ignoring inflation.
...
“If you look at Nato’s figures Gordon Brown’s statement is incorrect,” says Stoker. “Either way, both sets of data indicate that the budget has not risen every year.”
...
Defence spending has gone up in “near cash” terms, but it’s fiscally illiterate to use this measure, and the former chancellor knows it."
"The coroner at an inquest into the death of four British soldiers in a blast in Afghanistan has pointed to "inadequacies" in training.and that the four were travelling in a 'Snatch Land Rover' and he went on to comment on this vehicle. The BBC reports part of what he said in this passage:
In his summing-up, Wiltshire and Swindon coroner David Masters said there were issues with how soldiers were trained to deal with bombs. "
"Mr Masters repeated what witnesses had told the court, that shortages in other vehicles meant soldiers had to used the lightly protected Land Rover, which was not adequate for the purpose.That extract is damning enough, soldiers dying in a vehicle that was known to off inadequate protection to its users and one that has still not been upgraded by the Government.
The soldiers died after the back wheel of their Land Rover hit a 50kg to 100kg (110lb-220lb) pressure-plated roadside bomb as they crossed a ditch.
...
Concerns about the Snatch Land Rover were raised as long ago as 2003.
The lightly armoured vehicle's vulnerability to roadside bombs and other explosives has led some soldiers to call it the "mobile coffin".
The Ministry of Defence is upgrading the Snatch with improvements to its armour and better electronic counter-measures to detect roadside bombs. But that work has yet to be completed. "
"Wiltshire Coroner David Masters said he would write to the Ministry of Defence to raise concerns about "theatre-wide" equipment shortages and gaps in training which led to the deaths.
"I intend to submit a report to the Ministry of Defence which will take up a number of these issues which this inquest has quite properly canvassed," Mr Masters said at the conclusion of a six-day inquest into the deaths at Trowbridge Town Hall.
...
The use of the Snatch Land Rover has long been controversial due to the numbers that have died in them and the inquest heard that it had been nicknamed the "mobile coffin" because of the lack of protection it afforded troops.
The vehicles could not cover soft ground and became stuck in a little water, which restricted the unit to driving along dangerous tracks, witnesses said.
The commanding officer of 23 SAS regiment, the Territorial Army battalion, told the hearing that he had raised concerns about the lack of safer vehicles and was told that he would have to make do as no others were available.
Mr Masters said the commanding officer, named only as Colonel A at the inquest, had wanted the better-armoured WMIK vehicle to replace the Snatch - even though it too might been badly damaged by the "massive" bomb concerned.
"There was a limited pool of vehicles available, a general shortage of vehicles available during that period," said Mr Masters.
"He wanted WMIKs because of the nature of the territory. He put in a request and justified it but he didn't get them. That shortage meant that they were unavailable to him. There was only a finite supply of vehicles to be allocated across the whole brigade."
Major Sebastian Morley, Cpl Bryant's SAS squadron commander in Helmand, later resigned, accusing the Government of being "cavalier at best, criminal at worst" for ill-equipping troops.
Mr Masters heard that shortages of metal detectors meant soldiers had not been shown how to use them before deploying to Afghanistan and were forced to ask an expert on base in Afghanistan how to do so.
An Ebex metal detector became available only four months into the deployment, until which point the soldiers had to scan the ground for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
One witness told the coroner of his training on the Ebex: "We worked it out ourselves with the use of the manual."
"There was a theatre-wide shortage of that piece of vital equipment," Mr Masters said.
He said that the lack of Ebex meant convoys took longer to move along a route and their slow pace opened them up to increased risk of attack.
"In my judgment there was an inadequacy in training for this unit and its members," he said. "
