PMQs verdict: Cameron is up to his neck in flooding

Today’s PMQs looked like it was going to be one of those relatively sedate, quiet and polite sessions today. Everyone wanted to talk about the floods, and both Ed Miliband and the Prime Minister were determined to be serious and statesmanlike. As Ed Miliband rose in the chamber he looked like he was sticking to that script. And yet there was a trap hidden in the Labour leader’s first question. The Prime Minister completely missed it, and the session floated away from Cameron thereafter.

Miliband’s first question was a serious one – would the Prime Minister guarantee that support needed to help those struggling with the impact of floods be given before it was needed, rather than when it was too late. An ambush if ever there was one – next week Miliband will surely have an example at hand where support came to late – but the PM walked straight into it. What else could he do. He’s decided to be all-action flood managing action man. The relief effort is now his to own – the best relief effort that money can buy. Probably.

And yet when Miliband came back at him with follow up questions, Cameron’s claims at preparation and organisation seemed as durable as a flood soaked piece of Environment Agency guidance. The government are cutting over 500 jobs in flood prevention this year – will Cameron commit to cancelling those cuts? Answer came there none. And so Miliband tried again. The same question rattled across the chamber, and again, there came no reply. Doing anything necessary doesn’t mean what it used to evidently. And it doesn’t mean answering obvious questions either.

The government front bench – with far more female faces than last week, a coincidence I’m sure – was stony faced. Nick Clegg looked like he’d just found out his own house was underwater. George Osborne looked palpably unwell. The veneer of a government handling a crisis is beginning to peel away again. The reality of the government’s cuts to flood prevention are becoming more widely known. By the end the PM was reduced to plaintively complaining that Ed Miliband was being mean asking difficult questions when he was doing his best to hold back the rising tide.

The situation is getting away from you Prime Minister. The flood waters are reaching Westminster and they’re up to your neck. Another press conference to try and bail yourself out? Why not…I’m not sure there’s another plan at your disposal…