The Political Thread

[IndigoPrime]

He rarely follows up. He has his list, often with questions from Gladys from Hull, and that's it. The best responses in recent years have come from the SNP, the Lib Dems, Labour backbenchers, and Caroline Lucas.

[Professor Bear]

how does one "win" PMQs?  Objectively, I mean.

I'm not sure "what I would have done" is really an objective answer to my question what the desired and verifiable end result of PMQs actually is (beyond confirmation bias, I mean), but doesn't follow up come from MPs with more experience in specific cases?  In the above mentioned case of Windrush, for example, it was Diane Abbott who did the follow-up.

[GordonR]

The local election results are in: Labour have had their best performance in nearly half a century

I keep seeing this Owen Jones factoid quoted, without the (slightly less impressive) other half of it being mentioned - ...in terms of their share of the vote specifically in London.

However - as with the rest of England - they finished the night in control of the same number of councils in the capital that they had when they started.  Does that really sound like a half century's worth of achievement against a shambles of a government that's just suffered a major Cabinet resignation?

[JamesC]

There was a feature on the radio earlier about Javid's love of Ayn Rand. Not very reassuring.

[Richard]

General Election cycles are five years in the UK, which was one of the first things Davey Cameron changed when he took office...

Er, what?

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/14/section/1

[Tjm86]

There was a feature on the radio earlier about Javid's love of Ayn Rand. Not very reassuring.

There's also an article on the Daily Mail website about a couple of his Uncles back home that are mixed up in some sort of visa scam.  Not that Mr Javid was implicated, just his relatives.

[Dandontdare]

I am curious: how does one "win" PMQs?  Objectively, I mean.

If the PM told a big enough whopper at PMQ, you can't accuse her of lying (that would be rude), but if you could persuade the speaker that she was misleading the House, he may invite her to withdraw the remark. If she refused, the speaker could suspend her from the chamber, and if she refused to leave, have her physically dragged out by the sergeants-at-arms.

I guess that would count as a win.

[Leigh S]

The odd dynamic with Labours result is as much to do with it being against the backdrop of blatant self sabotage from within as moribund opposition from without.  I'm not sure how much an impact a united party would have had, but it could only have been positive

[The Legendary Shark]

I don't understand. Are we winning, or not?

[Tjm86]

I don't understand. Are we winning, or not?

"It's broadly speaking a tie, sir.  I had to send four hundred and seventy three men off though."

[Professor Bear]

I don't understand. Are we winning, or not?

Never.

[Theblazeuk]

Who "wins PMQs" seems a matter of what the papers or BBC say, and so far they all lean heavily towards whatever pre-written joke May or her cronies have rather than engaging with the questions asked. All the focus is on the PMQs, not the PMAs.

[IndigoPrime]

Well, that was a shocker yesterday: the Lords managing to win a vote where both of the big two had whipped their MPs (Tories to vote against and Labour to abstain). Bizarrely, my old MP (a fairly right-wing Tory) is seemingly a pragmatist and was again among the Tory rebels. Corbyn, natch, wanted all his Lords to abstain, because he's an ideological halfwit when it comes to the single market. ("Thatcher had a big hand in this! GRRRR! I'll just lie to Momentum about EU rules and they'll stick up for me!")

The fight now returns to the Commons, where Corbyn will presumably three-line whip his MPs to vote down or abstain from the amendment, thereby obliterating any suggestion he's not in favour of hard Brexit, and that he doesn't give the slightest shit about people's jobs. So much for Labour being a party for workers.

[Old Tankie]

And the unemployment rate is ?

[Hawkmumbler]

And the unemployment rate is ?

Unemployment rate never factors in the omnipresent, borderline illegal zero hour contract, at the highest since their inception. It's a wafer thin argument against change in the current employment scheme.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/contractsthatdonotguaranteeaminimumnumberofhours/mar2017