PMQ has been rocked by an intervention from The Speaker, Michael Martin. At the end of exchanges between Tony Blair and David Cameron, the leader of the Opposition was asking the PM about whether he would be supporting Gordon Brown for the leadership.
At this point the Speaker made a bizarre intervention:
"Order, order. The Prime Minister is here to talk about the business of the government. Who will be the next leader of the Labour party is a matter for the Labour party. It is not a matter for the floor of the House."
The Tories went BANANAS. As they should, this was a truly odd thing to say. David Cameron sought clarification, starting with "are you honestly saying that ..."
It seems that The Speaker was honestly saying that MPs cannot ask Tony Blair who he is supporting as his successor. The Speaker at one point threatened to suspend the session. It was the most vocal display from the Chair in many years.
Cameron tried again with "Who would the PM like to be the next PM," and The Speaker allowed that one, presumably as that is the business of government.
This was yet another intervention from The Speaker. Barely a day goes by when he is not on his feet, trying to tightly control what can be asked. Earlier in PMQ he cut the PM short for even mentioning Tory policy, as he has done in previous weeks. Perhaps The Speaker is trying to appear even handed.
The exchanges between Blair and Cameron all concerned the NHS - it was pretty much an even match. Usual stuff - cuts in the NHS, the Chief Medical Officer says things are bad, chair of the BMA is dismayed, the real failure is endless targets.
The PM responded in kind: lots of statistics, reduced waiting times, lots more money than there was under the Tories. Neither heat not light from these exchanges. What was interesting was that the packed Labour benches were CHEERING the PM after every point he made about the NHS. Clearly the whips want to demonstrate unity after yesterday's rebellions over Iraq.
Ming asked about an Iraq inquiry. Blair told him that the troops have a UN mandate AND the support of the Iraqi goverment AND the Liberals are trying to undermine our brave boys. Again, a draw.
The session started with DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson, using his question to slag off republican terrorists who set off firebombs in Belfast last night. The PM decided to empahsise the hopes for peace at the St Andrews conference. Then, in the sort of tit for tat nonsense that poisons Northern Irish politics, a republican called Eddie McGrady was called to ask the second question. He clearly has not learnt how long a question is supposed to be in his 19 years as an MP, and came close to being told to sit down. He bitched about changes to the education system in the province.
Mr Blair quite equably pointed out that if the fighting children that constitute the Northern Irish political class could work together, they could decide the future of the province themselves.
