Cameron's first PMQs as PM - Review

I thought David Cameron did pretty well at PMQs today. The whole affair began in a fairly understated way largely due to the deaths this morning in Cumbria.

Harman asked some difficult questions about anonymity for rape suspects and deliberately chose a good wedge issue between Tories and Lib Dems on married tax allowance. Cameron handled all of this OK though in my view.

In fact (whisper it) but he seemed very statesmanlike at the dispatch box. Someone commenting on my live chat mentioned that he seemed to be following some pretty specific body language routine to appear so. That's probably the public school education coming through!

What most impressed me though was his willingness to actually try to answer the questions. Where Gordon Brown would have just reeled off a list of tractor statistics and then insulted his questioner I got the feeling that Cameron was trying to engage properly. He was a bit evasive in some places but if we are to be fair PMs cannot know the answer to everything. Cameron himself made this point when he said he would write to a member about an answer to which there was some heckling. His response then was that at least he was trying to give correct answers rather than making them up on the spot. This would be fair enough except that when Brown use to try that Cameron used to accuse him of dithering! Some level of hypocrisy would seem to be par for the course even in the "new politics".

The overall level of jeering and heckling seemed less than normal (although not totally absent). This can probably be partly ascribed to the fact that the Lib Dems (whose leaders always used to get way more than their fair share) are now in government. It is probably also due to the sheer number of new MPs who are still finding their feet. However it is welcome and I hope it continues and maybe even improves further.

An impressive outing for the new Prime Minister. It will be interesting to see if this sort of standard can be maintained as he it battered by events in the coming months and years.

Lisbon II - Cameron's dilemma

So apparently the Lisbon treaty which appeared to be done and dusted will actually be back before parliament in a few weeks time for technical ratification of a few points regarding seat distribution that had to be rushed through previously.

Now at first glance this may seem like a golden opportunity for David Cameron. He always said that he wanted a referendum on Lisbon and in a few weeks time he may well be Prime Minister. The question is what will he do?

There are suggestions that he could announce a referendum and then use that as a bargaining chip with the rest of the EU about repatriation of powers.

I think that David Cameron will actually view this situation with dread. He thought that Lisbon and the EU were now well and truly kicked into the long grass. This would bring it all to the fore again. Worse still it is likely even if the Tories can get a majority that it will be pretty slender. We all know that there are a sizeable chunk of Tory MPs (and many current PPC who may well be MPs on Friday) who would actually like to see us renegotiate the UK's position in the EU in a much more fundamental way. These MPs could find themselves able to exert great pressure on Cameron to make any referendum more wide ranging.

If instead the Tories do not have a majority (which is currently the most likely outcome according to the bookies) then Cameron may not even have enough votes in the house to call a referendum or block ratification. I wonder how Tory MPs would react to that.

Things could get very interesting on this front very quickly.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels?