PMQs – snap verdict
Many people find it hard to see the point of PMQs. With DPMQs, it is even more of a mystery. Most key decisions in government end up on the desk of the prime minister and, even if he does not say anything very revelatory in the Commons, at PMQs at least MPs and viewers get some clues as to his thinking (non-answers can tell you a lot, if you know how to interprete them properly), and make an assessment of character.
With Oliver Dowen standing it, it was a bit like listening to the minister for paperclips doing the morning broadcast round and having to field questions from Kay Burley or Nick Robinson on private thinking within No 10 on party strategy, battlefield developments in the Ukraine war, and the intricacies of pensions policy. The minister for paperclips resorts to waffle and some anodyne line to take, but as a journalist I listen knowing that I would get much more informative answers from colleagues in the office.
PMQs was a bit like that today. The speaker might have been better off suspending the sitting for an hour, and sending all the MPs off to join Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer at Westminster Abbey. From the government’s point of view, with no other strategy succeeding at the moment, at least prayer might help.
It wasn’t that Dowden was terrible (he needled Angela Rayner quite effectively at one point about her relationship with Starmer); it was just that he did not have much to say, and so largely he resorted to partisan bromides. In so far as we did learn anything from him, it was that he seems to think banging on Liam Byrne’s “no money left” note is still a winning argument.
Rayner went on housing issues, consolidating the attack line used by Starmer last week. She embarrassed Dowden with two questions that he would not fully address: whether buy to let mortgages are included in the mortgage support package (she was arguing that they should be, because “most renters live in homes with buy-to-let mortgages”), and whether the government will finally ban no-fault evictions. It was not a vintage performance, but she was more convincing than Dowden, and so it did the job.
There was one obvious winner today, though, and that was Mhairi Black. As usual, her two questions were spiky, but she brought the house down with a terrific retort to Dowden’s opening answer. (See 12.20pm.) Most of the jokes you hear at PMQs are pre-scripted and rehearsed. That does not necessarily stop them being funny, but spontaneous wit is more impressive and that (almost certainly) was what we heard today from Black. She triumphed.
Key events
Cabinet Office to learn on Thursday if it has won legal challenge against Covid inquiry over WhatsApp messages disclosure order
The Cabinet Office is to learn whether it has won its legal challenge to the UK Covid-19 inquiry chair’s request for Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages, notebooks and diaries, PA Media reports. PA says:
High court judges are expected to hand down their decision over the government’s judicial review of Heather Hallett’s order at 2.30pm on Thursday.
The Cabinet Office has refused to provide the documents, arguing the request is “so broad” that it is “bound to catch” a large amount of irrelevant material.
Lawyers for the department say the inquiry does not have the legal power to force ministers to release messages and records it claims cover matters “unconnected to the government’s handling of Covid”.
However, Hugo Keith KC, for the inquiry chairwoman, has said the idea that the Cabinet Office could decide which aspects were relevant “would emasculate this and future inquiries”.
And Lord Pannick KC, on behalf of the former prime minister, argued there is a “real danger” of undermining public confidence in the process if the department wins its bid.
The government took the highly unusual step of launching the challenge in June, in a move which attracted criticism after days of public wrangling between the Cabinet Office and Hallett’s probe.
The former prime minister handed over his unredacted WhatsApp messages, diaries and 24 notebooks to the Cabinet Office in late May.
Johnson himself is backing Hallett, who rejected the argument that the material was irrelevant in a May ruling, in opposing the legal challenge over the request.
Lord Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Garnham are expected to hand down their decision on Thursday.
Dowden’s claim Labour policy would add £1,000 to cost of average mortgages not supported by research, MPs told
Dawn Butler (Lab) raises a point of order. She says at a previous PMQs Oliver Dowden said that Labour’s plan to spend £28bn a year on green energy plans would put an extra £1,000 on mortgages. That figure came from a Daily Mail article, that attributed it to the Treasury. But when the UK Statistics Authority looked into this, it found that this was not based on any proper Treasury analysis. She says this has been confirmed by LBC. She asks if Dowden will correct the record.
Sir Linday Hoyle, the speaker, says that ministers will have heard the point, and that he is sure Dowden will want to correct any mistake as quickly as possible.
Sarah Jones (Lab) says Rishi Sunak behaved like a “stroppy schoolboy” at the liaison committee yesterday. He has bitten off more than he can chew.
Dowden says that was more of a rant than a question.
And that’s it. PMQs is over
John Baron (Con) says, with employment at a record high, can Dowden explain why the Labour party has such a bad record on unemployment.
Dowden says he remembers the “no money left” note left by Labour in 2010. That should never happen again, he says.
Paul Howell (Con) welcomes Fiona Hill (the former White House Russia expert, not Theresa May’s former co-chief of staff), as chancellor of Durham University. Dowden welcomes the appointment too.
Gerald Jones (Lab) asks about sarcomas. Awareness of these is low. What can the government do to address this?
Dowden says he has a great awareness of this. It is important to raise more awareness, he says.
Henry Smith (Con) says the chief minister of Gibraltar is in the gallery. Will the government protect the right of Gibraltarians to remain British as negotiations with Spain continue?
Dowden says he is happy to give that assurance.
Kim Leadbeater (Lab) says she had the usual stack of emails today from constituents who cannot get proper care. Does Dowden agree that the NHS faces “managed decline” under the Tories. She refers to the letter from three thinktanks.
Dowden says he does not agree. He says under the Tories the NHS has “record funding. record doctors, record nurses, record scans and record operations”.
(Dowden may be right about these “record” numbers, but they are a function of inflation and population growth, not meaningful measures in real terms, or proportionately.)
Aaron Bell (Con) says the government should open new dental schools. There is a place in his constituency that would make a good site for one, he says.
Dowden says the government has an “open mind” on the need for more dental schools.
Holly Mumby-Croft (Con) asks about the steel industry, and urges the government to take further measures to ensure the UK has a long-term, sustainable steel industry.
Dowden says Mumby-Croft is a champion for the industry. Tata and British Steel have had “meaningful offers of support”, he says.
Angela Crawley (SNP) asks if the government will hold an election now.
Dowden attacks the SNP’s record in government.
Maggie Throup (Con) asks about VAT on sunscreen. She says it should be removed, to save lives.
Dowden says, as as fair-headed person with a fair-headed family, he is very aware of the need for sunscreen, and the dangers of melanoma. But this is an issue for the Treasury, he says.
Sir Edward Leigh (Con) asks about a plan to move the grave of Guy Gibson’s dog at RAF Scampton, where migrants are being housed.
Dowden says he is sure that Home Office ministers will have heard this point.
Mhairi Black, the deputy leader of the SNP at Westminster, quotes someone saying we should be comfortable using the private sector more. And another said we should use the private sector more. Which was the PM, and which was the leader of the opposition?
Dowden starts by saying he is sorry Black is standing down. He says he and Black joined the Commons at the same time. And he says he knows Black will want to celebrate King Charles getting his Scottish regalia in Edinburgh today.
It’s a joke. Black is a republican, and she seems to find it funny.
Black says she and Dowden joined the Commons at the same time, “and I’m pretty sure we will be leaving at the same time”. She asks
That’s the best joke of PMQs so far, and it generates a lot of laughter.
She asks Dowden to acknowledge the damage Brexit has done to the NHS.
Dowden says the NHS is doing well under the Tories.
UPDATE: Here is the clip from the Scotsman’s Alexander Brown.
Rayner says it is obvious what needs to happen. More homes need to be built.
Dowden says she did not listen to what he said. The government is building more homes than Labour, he says. He says Rayner is in the pocket of the unions.