A straight yes or no is all that is needed, but the PM corkscrews into confusion

‘On and on she went, for so long that I almost forgot what the orginal question was’

Listening to Theresa May answer questions is a puzzling business. Somehow, I always come away feeling as if I know less than I did when I went in. Instead of making the picture clearer, she makes it vaguer. Instead of adding to the sum of human knowledge, she subtracts from it. Instead of shedding light, she sheds darkness.

We were treated to a classic example of this yesterday, when the Prime Minister took questions at the Confederation of British Industry’s annual conference in London. Laura Kuenssberg from the BBC asked about the sexual harassment scandal. Could Mrs May say “hand on heart” that she’d known nothing about the alleged harassment before it appeared in the press? A straightforward question, you might think, inviting either a yes, or a no. Either Mrs May had known, or she hadn’t known. Here’s how she responded.

“Obviously what has happened is that over the last week a number of stories have appeared in the press,” she said. “A number of issues were raised with me that didn’t appear in the press. As you’ve seen, action has been taken. A number of people have been referred to the Conservative Party’s grievance procedure and arrangements that we have put in place. A number of people have...”

On and on she went, for so long that I almost forgot what the original question was. It was: did she know about the alleged harassment before it emerged in the press?

Mrs May hadn’t said. Not only that, she’d managed to introduce a whole new area of confusion. “A number of issues” that “didn’t appear in the press”? What “issues” were these? Did she mean that other Tory MPS had been accused of harassment as well? If so, why wasn’t she telling us who they were, and what they were alleged to have done? Had “action” been taken against them too? Why – other than sheer force of habit – was she being so vague? Unfortunately, there was no time left to put those questions to Mrs May. Then again, even if there had been time, it wouldn’t necessarily have helped.

Also at the conference was Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour leader was introduced to the audience of business leaders with unexpected enthusiasm. “I’m absolutely thrilled that we have [him],” gushed Peter Drechsler, the CBI’S president. “A great speaker… This is his natural zone – not Glastonbury, but the CBI conference…”

The audience, however, didn’t seem quite so keen, especially when Mr Corbyn mentioned his plans to put up taxes. “Knew you’d welcome that bit!” chirped Mr Corbyn merrily.

Most of the audience remained silent. A few gave a weak-sounding titter.