PMQs as-it-happened
Follow all the twists and turns of this week's PMQs with politics.co.uk's live blog. Just hit refresh on your browser to see the latest developments.
By Ian Dunt Follow @IanDunt
12: 32 – Well evidently Miliband did use up all his questions. They really flew past and I wasn't counting, but sorry for misleading you on that one. Well, that looked like another clear win for Miliband. Nothing spectacular, and Cameron was right to point out that his decision to avoid the subject of the strikes made him look uncomfortable. It's OK, Cameron got all his pre-scripted attacks in anyway, which was precisely what Miliband was trying to avoid (you can hardly blame him). But a win is a win, it doesn't have to be spectacular, and Miliband has chalked up another win. That's officially a streak. Looked like that badly recieved performance a month ago really put the fire in his belly. Cameron: 1 Miliband: 2. See you next week.
12:31 – Ken Clarke is awake. He's having a lauugh with Phillip Hammond. There's a sentence I never thought I'd write. And with that the session comes to an end.
12:28 – Michael Gove MUST STOP PLAYING WITH HIS FACE. It's perpetual and deeply horrible. Graham Evans (Con, studiosly respectable) wants the House to remember those who served in bomber command in World War Two. Pamela Nash (Lab, lovely) tells MPs her granny is in the public gallery today. That won't save her.
12:26 – Alok Sharma (Con, super-posh) gives Cameron the chance to remind MPs that there hasn't been a "squeak" about the strikes from Labour. Again, he accuses Labour of being bought off by the unions. He accuses the unions of spreading "myth and disinformation".
12:23 – Diana Johnson (Lab, frumpy) asks a question about criminal convictions and being placed on the barred list. Julian Huppert (Lib Dem , looks like an academic) reminds Cameron of his pre-PM liberal views on drugs policy. Cameron admits it's been a failure but refuses to actually remind people of his previous views. He does call for a better treatment system, though. Tom Clarke (Lab, bloated at best) asks about Sudan. Cameron says he seeks a "successful outcome". How controversial.
12:20 – Usually Cameron's bald spot moves around his head like a satellite. Some days it's top left, others bottom right. Today he has split it in half. Ken's waking up.
12:17 – Ken Clarke appears to be awake… Oh no, sorry – he's dropped off. Ah, he's talking. He may be talking in his sleep, of course. George Osborne looks like he took something questionable at Glastonbury and is now suffering through the ensuing paranoia and mental breakdown.
12:12 – Emily Thornbury (Lab, wonderful voice, could read the news on Radio 4) asks about whether Clegg and Cameron agree on married couples in the tax system. Cameron admits they don't. Brian Binley (Con, bursting from his suit) reminds the PM that demand is sluggish. Labour will love those questions from Cameron's own side. Cameron justifies his economic policy, but if he's doing that while looking behind him it's a sign of trouble. Ian Austin (Lab, oddly priest-like) asks about Cameron's promise to ban extremist groups. Poor response. Bob Blackman (Con, tedious in the extreme) reminds MPs of the strikes. Cameron says it's the issue "they simply don't want to talk about on that side of the House". Cameron reminds MPs it was Lord Hutton, a Labour politican, who wrote up the report on public sector pensions. Cameron says he's doing it to safeguard the public sector. The "contract" must be sustainable.
12:07 – "What is he doing to our NHS?" Miliband ends, after a strong passage on government failings. Cameron reverts to his pre-prepared answers, saying Miliband can't comment on strikes "because he's in the pocket of the unions. He can't talk about Greece because he wants us to be the same as Greece." Labour MPs are chanting at the PM, trying to shut him up. "He has to talk about the micro because he can't talk about the macro." We move on, after Bercow basically shuts Cameron up. There's some not-so-subtle handbags between the PM and the Speaker when he says: "I hope it's in order, Mr Speaker, to discuss Labour performance in Wales."
12:04 – Cameron insists on giving Miliband the figures. It's all billion pounds this or that, making it numb the brain a la Gordon Brown. £852 million is being spent on making NHS staff redundant, Miliband says. Will he guarantee they won't be restaffed to do their old jobs at his new quangos? Cameron says they're implementing cost savings, but the Commons treats him mockingly. Miliband heading for a win here. "Let me just ask the question again because he didn't answer it," the Labour leader says. He does so. Cameron replies: "It's not the prime minister who hires every person in the NHS." He then reverts to bluster and rhetoric "It's this government which is investing in the NHS" etc.
12:02 – Miliband asks how many statutory organisations will remain in the NHS after his reforms. Cameron evades. Miliband says the number will go up from 163, to 521. Is that true? Sounds remarkable. He lists all the PCT clusters and commissioning boards. "Is this what he meant by a bonfire of the quangos?" Strong start from Miliband. Cameron insists the number of doctors is going up and the number of bureacrats is going down. Miliband doesn't take any abuse on this and lists Labour achievements on the NHS.
12:01 – And we're off. Almost on time as well. Keren Lumley (Con) asks for the PM to comend teachers not striking tomorrow. Cameron delivers exactly the response you would expect. He says his plans are fair to the public sector and taxpayers. Miliband's up. Huge noise.
11:59 – David Cameron and George Osborne sit down, with Osborne gesticulating wildly, as if gleefully recounting the story of how he once reduced a young child to tears in school. Susan Jones (Lab, very screechy) is way too earnest in her question, and delivers even more combinations of 'secretary of state' and 'standing up for Wales'.
11:56 – Taking a while to fill up today, but William Hague has sat down. Sadiq Khan, justice secretary, has just put out a statement saying Labour will oppose cuts to legal aid (Labour cut it themselves quite a bit, by the way). That could come up.
11:51 – Bercow just interrupted Owen Smith, shadow welsh secretary (branded "geographically challenged" by David Jones), as he tried to make considerable party-political noise. Bercow has a remarkable face that oscillates between irritation and warm laughter with split-second splits. It's quite disarming.
11:48 – Peter Hain is doing his thing at the despatch box. He's on auto-pilot ("the same old nasty Tories" etc), although he looks much better in summer, when his tan doesn't stand out quite so much.
11:42 – On the subject of disfigurement, MPs are starting to fill out the chamber now. Every question from a Plaid Cymru MP ends with 'will the secretary of state stand up for the interests of Wales?' Don't suppose you can spot the political strategy there. John Bercow tells MPs he is "surprised and disappointed" with the slow progress today. No doubt. It feels as if time has become a sticky substance prevent bodily movement.
11:36 – Cheryl Gillan, Welsh secretary, is currently conducting Welsh questions. I am going to get a coffee and then do something horrible and disfiguring to my body. Twenty minutes to kick off.
11:27 – Here's the key quote from Ed Miliband recent article on the strikes. I'm going to quote it at length because it reveals the line of attack Labour thinks it can tip-toe, while still ultimately supporting the government. "When they should be building bridges to find a solution they are mishandling the whole situation with parents paying the price. When Labour was in office we had tough negotiations limiting the taxpayers' liability for the rising cost of public sector pensions. We increased the age new employees would retire. We moved many from final salary to career average schemes. We did it without strikes and under Labour the number of days lost through industrial disputes fell to its lowest-ever level. This government has acted in a reckless and provocative manner. Despite this, some of the public sector trade unions are continuing to seek a negotiated settlement rather than taking strike action. They are right to do so, rather than giving the government the fight for which, too often, it seems to be spoiling."
11:21 – The prime minister's spokesman just admitted Downing Street operations are set to be disrupted by tomorrow's strikes, although there will apparently be some staff left.
11:16 – I don't usually have much time for Michael Gove, who I always find resembles some sort of rare bird, but he delivered an unapologetically intellectual speech on mathematics this morning. Try this on for size: "The truth, as I suspect everyone in this room knows, is that history is driven, above all, by mathematics and the power it gives us to understand, predict and control the world. The emergence of the first, truly great, Western civilization, in the scattered city states of Ancient Greece, was intimately connected with the first systematic thinking about reason, logic and number." You might not find that riveting, but it's better than listening to Nick Clegg bang on about local authority budgets, I can tell you that much.
11:05 – One hour to go until kick off. It seems counter-intuitive, but I'm guessing that Ed Miliband will lead with tomorrow's public sector strike. While Miliband supports the government on the issue and feels, correctly, that David Cameron is on the right side of the public on it, there is still political capital to be had. By expressing his support, his points of criticism seem more relevant. The line taken by Andy Burnham yesterday – that the government had gone about the process of public sector pension reform arrogantly and with disdain – could be effective if used appropriately. As Daniel Finkelstein wrote in today's Times (I won't bother linking to it because they've put it behind a paywall), the public's mood on strikes can easily turn. There's already more sympathy with strikers than there usually is during transport strikes etc. Of course, Miliband might also choose to attack on the sentencing U-turn (old hat), try a conciliatory Afghanistan approach (especially given last night's attack) or go for something completely different. Meanwhile, I'll be interspersing the commentary with some character-revealingly glib and superficial observations of our elected representatives. If past form is anything to go by, I'll be adding in generous servings of typos as well.
