VERDICT: A quiet PMQs by recent standards. Miliband’s delivery is improving, slowly, but the content still fails him. Cameron’s commitment to the NHS is clearly very personal, but it pays a tactical dividend also in that the government is immune from the criticism Miliband made. Likewise, Labour’s jibes on the economy fall flat: Miliband has no constructive policy agenda, whilst the government’s achievement in having calmed the markets and overseen better than expected growth. It’s simple for Cameron to claim that the opposition is talking down the economy.
With these advantages at his disposal, Cameron doesn’t need to play the Full Flashy. So, when he plays them, his rhetorical cards tend to win tricks. Cameron took home a comfortable win for Christmas today.
12:32: At last! A question about the Sweden bomber’s Islamist connections in Britain. Surprised it has taken so long, perhaps an indication of Theresa May’s suprisingly serene perfomance on Monday.
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