The devil’s in the details, or so the saying goes. Ed Miliband’s chance at winning an exchange at PMQs seems to be in the details as well. Or at least, that’s what he and his team seem to have decided.
Miliband focused exclusively on the NHS, challenging Cameron to produce precise figures for the number of statutory bodies that will exist in his reformed NHS (it’s going up from 163 to 521, apparently), the cost of making NHS staff redundant and whether any of them will be rehired by the new consortia.
For the first few questions, this strategy seemed to pay off. Cameron was on the back foot, speaking in general terms about his commitment to cutting bureaucracy in the NHS, unable to come back with any specifics. His usual strategy of turning out the media-friendly soundbites that get his backbenchers roaring couldn’t help him here. His weak accusation that Miliband “can’t talk about the macro” got barely a murmur. I was on the edge of my seat, wondering whether Ed was finally going to achieve the decisive PMQs victory that has so far eluded him.
But it wasn’t to be. Cameron managed to land a couple of blows towards the end by bringing up the planned public sector strikes tomorrow, accusing Ed of “being in the pocket of the unions”, and the Greek financial crisis, which enabled the PM to repeat his favourite mantra about Labour’s economic record.
On balance, Ed still got the better of the exchange, but it was a much closer run thing that the first few minutes suggested it could have been. Cameron did get properly riled, shouting over the roars of backbenchers in a way that prompted the Speaker to start shouting about the “decibel level” in the chamber.
The trouble with Ed’s forensic strategy is two-fold. Firstly, it means that he’s asking questions he already knows the answer to, with the real point to score when Cameron can’t provide a detailed answer – not very “new politics”.
Secondly, it seems to prevent him from being really topical. There was no mention in his questions of the crime figures, or pension reform, or the strikes, or the EU bailout situation. If he keeps this up, he risks looking out of touch, seeking political capital rather than genuine accountability.
A better effort from Ed, then, but he didn’t quite pull it off this time.
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