How do you solve a problem like PMQs?
It looks like Ed Miliband’s moderate approach to Prime Minister’s Questions has been chucked firmly out of the window. The Labour leader was on fiery form this lunchtime and chose a more combative style than his previous appearances in the commons, having said he wanted to see a more measured approach to the weekly question and answer slot.
Of course noble aims don’t always pay off and it’s much harder to ‘win’ if you’re not seen to be shouting aggressively from the despatch box each week. And perhaps that’s the problem. This week David Cameron was booed, jeered and heckled for losing his place in the folder containing all his answers. Labour MPs waved their own papers, shouted and laughed as the Prime Minister struggled to find the right note.
So how to solve it? More women? Perhaps. Although the response from MPs to a Labour question on why so many of the Conservative’s 2010 female intake are leaving in 2015 tells us that while parties pay lip-service to equality, we’re still a long way off.
Maybe Douglas Carswell MP has cracked it. The Conservative MP tweeted earlier:
If we had twitter feed on giant screen in Commons chamber for #PMQs might it raise self awareness among MPs?
— Douglas Carswell MP (@DouglasCarswell) January 29, 2014
… Mr Speaker?