PMQs liveblog: February 9th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Verdict: Ed Miliband was clearly more relaxed today than he has been before at PMQs. His retorts felt less pre-prepared (although I’m sure that’s not the case) and the only memorable lines of the session were his. This was a confident and capable performance from the Labour leader, who deserves the plaudits this performance will garner.

Miliband set about exposing the fallacy of Cameron’s big society rhetoric, focussing on the libraries, sure start centres and charities that will suffer from government cuts. Cameron immediately began to wobble, producing a very small rabbit out of his hat by way of a £200 million “big society” fund from the banks. Miliband wasn’t impressed, and neither were his backbenchers. He thought well on his feet – not always a strength of his in recent weeks – as he slammed the PMs excuses over library closures. More than that though, he exuded confidence despite intense Tory barracking. He’s comfortable now in this atmosphere.

His most memorable line came at the end of his tussle with Cameron. It was clearly planned, but he executed it well. As Cameron’s face turned red and his voice began to rise, his anger clearly on show – as it so often is at PMQs, Miliband rose, smiling, to say:

“He shouldn’t get so angry. It will cloud his judgement. He’s not the first PM I’ve said that to.”

It was in many ways the sort of killer line that Miliband has been crying out for in recent weeks. All too often he has threatened Cameron’s dominance, only to fail to deliver a killer blow. This was that blow. It attacks Cameron’s greatest weakness whilst tying the PM, rather than the opposition leader, to Gordon Brown. Cameron looked shellshocked as he fell back on his “it’s all Labour’s fault” crutch. This was a Miliband win.

Ordinarily Miliband’s confident display would be the story of this PMQs, but not this week. What followed the leaders’ exchange was an absolute battering of the Prime minister from his backbenchers. In the end Cameron began to visibly wince when he saw who was up next. A pasting over Trident (in which he did his best to make his noncommittal non-answer look like a straight answer) was his nadir.

This was Cameron’s worst performance at PMQs since he became Prime Minister. Ed Miliband did most of the damage, but tellingly, his angry right flank were more than happy to kick him while he was down.In the months to come, that combination could well damage the PM further.

12.30: Wall to wall right-wing Tory populism today, and we close with an attack on “unelected bureaucrats in Brussells”. Did anyone have that in Tory catchphrase bingo?

12.24: Planted question from the Tory backbenches – unusual today as Cameron has had a bit of a kicking from his MPs. It’s on deficit denial. That line must poll well for them, because they hammer it home even though it hasn’t gained traction…

12.18: Is the PM being ambushed by his backbenches over Trident? It certainly looks like it. He’s urged to reject another coalition with the Lib Dems if it means no Trident renewal. Cameron is non-commital but says he’s in favour of Trident.

12.17: Has the mood in the house turned decisively against Bercow today? The bakcbenchers are incredibly rowdy, and Bercow doesn’t seem to be able to control them. Cheering and jeering throughout.

12.14: Best line of that exchange went to Miliband “He shouldn’t get so angry. It will cloud his judgement. He’s not the first PM I’ve said that to.” That both attacks Cameron’s greatest PMQs weakness, and ties him, rather than Miliband, to Gordon Brown. Very clever.

12.12: It has taken a whole 9 minutes this week, but – finally – Cameron falls back on his PMQs crutch. It’s all Labour’s fault. It’s his PMQs panic button and he’s hit it.

12.10: Miliband: “Only this Prime Minister could blame the libraries for closing”.

12.08: Miliband is hitting Cameron hard on local government cuts and the cuts to surestart centres. Miliband points out that the head of the LGA (a Tory) attacked Eric Pickles’ local government cuts. He ends with a good line – how can people volunteer in libraries if they’ve been closed?

12.06: Cameron pulls a (very small) rabbit out of the hat – revealing that £200m will go into the “big society bank” from the banks.

12.03: Ed Miliband leads off by asking how the “big society” is going – which appears to have riled the PM. Cameron responds that the house is united behind the big society.

Preview: Last week I was concerned that PMQs had become formulaic and predictable. That’s still my concern for the long term, but last week’s downbeat and statesmanlike performance from Ed Miliband – in which he sought to rack up some “looks like a leader” points – shook things up a little bit.

The economy could be back on Ed’s agenda today after it was revealed that the country now have a record trade gap of £9.3 billion. Miliband might also want to press the PM over the percentage of Tory donations that come from big business – particularly from the city. No doubt Cameron’s retort would be largely about the unions. It’s up to Miliband whether or not that’s a risk worth taking. Who’s hates more, the city of the unions. My money is firmly on the former.