PMQs verdict: Another easy win for Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn may not win many popularity contests among his parliamentary party. Labour MPs are now so quiet during prime minister's questions, it would be worth Nasa sending a reconnaissance mission onto the Labour benches in order to detect any remaining signs of life. But despite everything, Corbyn has become quite adept at winning these sessions, with David Cameron increasingly at a loss as to how to tackle the Labour leader.
Corbyn's now well-worn tactic of asking questions from members of the public is still present, but he has added to it with a new deftness of touch and quick-footedness. Corbyn began the session by wishing the whole house and British astronaut Tim Peake a "happy Christmas and peaceful new year". For some reason Cameron seemed to believe that Corbyn had refused to use the words "happy Christmas". "Let me join the honourable gentleman and be very clear that I don't want to wish him the season's greeting. I want to wish him a full Happy Christmas," he replied with a grin, apparently convinced he had caught the Labour leader in some new Britain-hating, Christian-baiting scandal.
"Just for the record I did say happy Christmas, but maybe the prime minister wasn't listening at the time," replied Jeremy Corbyn as if explaining something to a small child. For a prime minister who has made a career out of patronising Labour leaders, it was a rare example of the tables being turned.
Cameron's performance improved little as the session went on. Faced with repeated questions about a winter crisis in the NHS, Cameron repeatedly tried to respond with comments about the economy instead. This is a tactic that has got Cameron through five years of PMQs so he is unlikely to change it any time soon. However, it is a tactic which looks increasingly threadbare after several months facing Corbyn. Whereas his predecessor Ed Miliband would often make the mistake of rising to Cameron's goading or even worse trying to compete with it, Corbyn has instead decided to stick to his tactic of asking simple questions repeatedly and straightforwardly. It is an approach, which Corbyn has come close to perfecting. It is also an approach, which after several largely fruitless months of facing him, the prime minister has yet to find a decent answer to.
