Orchestration is the order of the day

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Orchestration was the order of the day in the house this lunchtime. The Tory benches erupted each time Cameron spoken in a near rapturous orgy of cheering, whooping and shouting. Their opposite numbers on the Labour benches were orchestrated too, standing up one by one to ask Cameron further questions on phone hacking, Andy Coulson and News International. The whips will have earned their money today (although unfortunately the Tory whips may have earned it more). Away from the main event of the tussle between Cameron and Miliband, the speaker first lost control of the house, and then – as a result – began to lose his voice.

Perhaps understandably, Cameron brought back his “flashman” persona today after a run of PMQs defeats. He ranted and blustered at any Labour MP who came across his path. He rumbled at most Tory MPs too. But snapping and shouting does not a victory make. He was poor on the substance in response to Ed Miliband’s questions on Coulson today. He’s started speaking in the legalese and jargon that was once favourerd by Gordon Brown. He’s also started using the Brown “getting on with the job” mantra. That’s a big mistake, because when he talks about values hes strong. Jargon doesnt resonate – its a sign of weakness. But Cameron was lucky, because Miliband wasn’t great either.

His questions on Andy Coulson were important, but they weren’t hard-hitting. The most important question – on whether key aides Steve Hilton and Ed Llewellyn passed concerns about Andy Coulson to the PM – could you be crucial, as the PM’s denial was barely credible. Yet this is all inside the beltway stuff. Ed Miliband has been so successful in this last week by outrunning Cameron and pushing him further than he was willing to go. With Cameron’s backing of Labour’s motion today, Miliband needed to go further, and tackle the bigger issue at play – media concentration and power. Yet he made the understandable – political – decision to go for Coulson. That was an error. If Coulson has broken the law, Cameron will suffer horrendously. But for now Miliband should be making the running.

When it came to the Prime Minister’s statement, Cameron was much improved. The calm and measured style he adopted after a raucous PMQs suits him far better. After days of being behind public opinion he managed to align himself with it again. Those of us who hoped that Miliband might have been keeping something in the locker for his response to the statement were left disappointed. It was something of a damp squib.

And yet there was one intestine development of Ed’s rhetoric. He has started talking about the concentration of power in the hands of a small number of proprietors and organisations. That’s fertile ground – and that’s where this debate must move next.

And it’s Ed who needs to up the tempo again, and move it.