As no-one with any interest in politics could have missed, today was new Conservative leader David Cameron's first day at the Dispatch Box. Cameron's rise to the top job on the Opposition benches has been meteoric — he was only elected as MP for Witney in 2001 — and from all the media hype anyone might think something huge was going to happen at Prime Minister's Questions.
In the end, the event was a bit anti-climactic. Instead of going for Europe (the rebate being one of the hot topics before Cameron's coronation) or this week's Pre-Budget Report, Cameron went with the education White Paper and the environment — two of the subjects which, Tony Blair pointed out, are part of this supposed new "consensus" between the two Front Benches. Aside from a bit of a swipe at the Chief Whip, Hilary Armstrong, Cameron did try to be consensual — but the PM outclassed him. Twice he asked if the new "consensus" meant that Cameron was supporting a Labour policy (the climate change levy, or the investment in our public services) and twice Cameron failed to rise to his feet.
If this is the great change sweeping the Conservative Party, it's all distinctly underwhelming.
Posted at 04:26 pm by juliemorgan
