PMQs Verdict: Men men men men manly men?

For today’s PMQs, I expected drudgery. Or at the very least “dredgery”. All politicians must – in these flood times – feign an intimate knowledge of the importance of dreading, silt, man-made canals and flood defences. None of which is naturally within the arsenal of either David Cameron or Ed Miliband. But both had come prepared. Miliband with questions and Cameron with reams, and reams and reams of answers. It’s almost like there are Tory seats (and Tory target seats) under water. As one helpful Devon (Tory) MP remarked later in the session “Devon and Cornwall feel cut off”.

And since Cameron’s government tore up plans for flood defences, he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. But at least he has somewhere dry to stand, so many Cornwall and Devon residents will envy him that.

With complicated and misunderstood party reforms to explain, a tube strike ongoing and a boisterous Tory Party braying from the government benches, I expected Miliband to be in over his head. But there was only one leader drowning, not waving today – and that was the Prime Minister.

Miliband was already ahead after the flood skirmish (no mean feat for a party that has often struggled to articulate the concerns of voters outside the urban heartlands – pleasing news for Labour Coast and Country types) but his coup de grace was delivered when he changed tack mid-way through his questioning. What – Miliband asked – was the Tory Party’s problem with women? Ann McIntosh, recently deselected from her safe seat in Thirsk and Milton, visibly squirmed behind the Prime Minister. No such squirming though from Cameron – like on floods, he was prepared with reams of stats. And yet there’s no amount of number crunching that can make the Tory Party’s dismal lack of female representative seem acceptable.

The number of female Tory MPs has risen, Cameron proclaimed, to 48!  Which of course is less than one in six.

The percentage of female cabinet members amongst the Tory section of the Cabinet is 24%! The next salvo was as weak as the last – that’s pretty measly compared to the 44% of the Shadow Cabinet who are women.

Cameron’s final rebuttal – his would-be ace in the hole – was Thatcher’s leadership of the Tory Party. 35 years ago Thatcher was elected leader of the Tory Party, which clearly had little “trickle-down” impact on the Tory benches. That has never been clearer than it was today, with an all male front bench for PMQs.

Labour’s front bench – with prominent Labour women in prominent positions – pointed and gesticulated at the Tory front bench. The TV cameras obliged and caught a shot of awkward squirming from the Cabinet.

Before Christmas it was reported that Labour’s lead amongst women was solidifying. That’s something Cameron is acutely aware of as an issue, and clearly hates to be pulled up on. He managed to restrain his anger – just – but the day was won for Miliband.

And not an Ed Balls hand gesture in sight. Today the victory was so clear, there was no need for gesticulation to point that out.