The PM was gifted a goal in last minute of extra time
DAVID Cameron left PMQS to cheers from his own side – all thanks to a dumbo Labour backbencher called Julie Hilling (Bolton W). In football parlance, Miss Hilling gifted Mr Cameron a goal in the final minute of extra time. It must have left the Labour Whips thumping their heads against the dugout wall.
Miss Hilling had earlier asked the PM a question. I think it may have been about the Government’s ‘family-friendly’ policies, but confess that my eye was on other balls at that point.
I was gripped, in particular, by the squash on the rearmost of the Tory benches, which looked like a Calcutta train in rush hour. Big-boned Jessica Lee (Erewash), who looks like something from a 1950s typing pool, was perching on top of Anna Soubry (Broxtowe).
All we could see was Miss Soubry’s head and one of her shoulders. She could almost have been run over by a steamroller.
But back to Miss Hilling. Mr Cameron, in his reply during PMQS, had mildly suggested that, given that Miss Hilling was ‘sponsored by the Unite union’, she might have said something about the latest remarks from the leader of that union. Len Mccluskey had used that voice piece of the proletariat, The Guardian newspaper, to demand ‘civic disobedience’ during the Olympic Games.
What did Miss Hilling think of his call for possibly illegal protests? So went Mr Cameron’s perhaps slightly hurried riposte to Miss Hilling. Miss Hilling squawked something – it was the sound of a pheasant disturbed in a country hedgerow – but most of us thought little more of the matter. It was the middle of PMQS. The session was in noisy flow. Each half-minute brought another roar of support and loud burp of opprobrium. Such is the normal carry-on for Wednes day midday. The PM and Edward Miliband had their now customary argument about the National Health Service.
Mr Cameron perhaps had the better of the exchanges. Mr Miliband is starting to sound stale on that issue. Mr Cameron had not only some detailed statistics about the professional health bodies which have attacked the Government’s reforms but also a long list of those which are in fact supporting him. Has Mr Cameron changed his preparations for PMQS? He certainly seemed better briefed. Maybe he understands that he needs to start taking the weekly joust more seriously.
On we forged. Richard Graham ( Con, Gloucester) raised the Mccluskey remarks. Mr Cameron said Labour should start to ‘turn back’ Unite’s money. Stewart Jackson (Con, Peterborough) took a swipe at the Lib Dems, talking about ‘the curse of Clegg’. Cleggy pulled a face.
NICK Raynsford ( Lab, Greenwich & Woolwich) raised the case of the Government’s former ‘back to work tsar’ and said Mr Cameron was gaining a ‘ reputation for illjudged personal appointments’. Mr Cameron snapped back that the tsar had first been given her CBE by Labour. And so forth.
PMQS finally ended. ‘Point of Order, Mr Speaker!’ It was Miss Hilling. She was peeved. As peeved as a Mexican whose sombrero has just been thrown on to a cactus. As cross as a juggler’s eyes.
She complained that she was ‘not sponsored by Unite’. This was ‘an untruth’. She demanded that Mr Cameron correct the record. Tory MPS gulped. Would their top man have to withdraw his accusation against minnow Hilling? What a humiliation! But Mr Cameron, who had not quite left the Chamber, happily leapt back to the despatch box.
He explained that he had based his accusation on the Register of MPS’ Financial Interests. This showed that Miss Hilling’s constituency party received £1,250 from Unite in 2010 and that Miss Hilling received a donation of £2,250 from Unite in 2010. ‘Of course, if I have in any way got that wrong,’ he murmured triumphantly, ‘I will come back to the House at the earliest opportunity.’
The victory was quick and comprehensive. Mr Cameron was practically lifted from the Chamber by his backbenchers’ cheers. What an entirely unnecessary goof by Labour.