Wednesday, June 29, 2011

PMQs Pleaser

I am a bit of traditionalist and a fan of PMQs. Some days, like today, are so manic I cannot watch it until nearly midnight but I watch it weekly during the parliamentary term. And every week Speaker Bercow, a man whom I admire for many of his reforms, rises up to tell MPs that the public doesn't like the way they conduct themselves and they ought to reign it in.

Well I wanted to say that, as a member of the public, I do like a robust and loud PMQs. It puts the PM under pressure and a good job too.

What really devalues PMQs is the shameless whips-handout style questions from both sides of the House and if Speaker Bercow wanted to improve the session he could tackle that first, closely followed by the MPs who read out lng winded questions designed only to get themselves in the local rag.

In a political world where most people view MPs as careerist clones, why would we want to do away with the one bit of the week that gives the Commons character and life?

Who are these "public" that tell Speaker Bercow they want a sanitised PMQs, because I'm not one of them!

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