PMQs verdict: A man under siege

Last week the first Tory cabinet minister of the coalition government fell, mired in a controversy than has deepened since he shuffled out on Friday evening, in a bid to avoid the media spotlight. The Labour benches hummed with anticipation as PMQs began, cheered by Miliband’s recent performances at PMQs and anticipating further blows struck on a government under pressure.

Yet David Cameron isn’t a PM who bows to such pressure. His response to the disastrous events of recent weeks was the same as it always has been – attack is best form of defence. Evade the questions. Baffle with statistics. Argue that the opposition have misled the house. But never, ever, accept the premise of the question.

Today’s attempt was to claim that any wrongdoing from Liam Fox ended with his resignation, which only serves to feed the suspicion that the former defence secretary resigned to stop contagion to other members of the cabinet – particularly those involved in Atlantic Bridge, as we have already covered.

In addition, a distinctly wobbly looking Cameron ignored the fact that it took Fox nearly two weeks to resign after the initial allegations were made – clinging on to his post as a drip, drip, drip of allegations pushed him closer to the edge.

Cameron was desperately clinging on too – this time to his usual PMQs holding pattern. The blows rainined down from all sides buffeting him through a bruising half hour. Fox, a potential EU referendum, the economy, he tried to brush them away, sounding a little less convincing with each successive question. There’s the awful whiff of a man under siege about him – and the whiff of governmental incompetence. It is too soon perhaps to talk of a death by 1000 cuts – especially when we know the next election is three and a half years away – but the sheer variety of attacks today, and Cameron’s manner of dealing with them, show a PM whose goal is to weather the storm, rather than remake the political weather.

Circumstances conspired to make this a relatively comfortable PMQs for Miliband, but he took his opportunities well. It would have been wrong to focus on Fox last week – this week he had to strike and strike hard to keep the issue in the public eye. And for once, splitting his questions paid dividends for the Labour leader. Cameron’s attempts to claim that Miliband is talking down the economy don’t hold any water when the economic situation is this bad, and worsening. And his excuses on Fox don’t hold any water either…

A comfortable win for Miliband. And the Labour benches left cheered by what they’d seen.