PMQs Verdict: Miliband still hasn’t answered the “Putin Question” – but neither has Cameron

There was plenty of unity on show in the Commons today. The Labour benches were resolutely behind Ed Miliband, the government benches seemed united behind David Cameron and Miliband and Cameron seemed broadly united in search of a position on the Ukraine.

That unity befitted the seriousness of the Ukraine crisis. It is – no hyperbole necessary – the greatest crisis facing the European continent in the 21st century. Russian forces are on the move. Putin – basking in the afterglow of a successful Olympics – no longer has any reason to avoid international condemnation of his actions (not that he was that bothered by what anyone else thinks or says anyway). West stands face to face with East, and perhaps for the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall there’s a realistic chance of a war between nuclear-armed Russia and similarly tooled-up NATO.

Yes – that’s a reason for unity in the Commons chamber. Unfortunately though, this unity brought little clarity.

Miliband arrived in the Commons adopting his statesmanlike posture, which largely involves asking probing questioning but accepting the answers he’s given. Cameron was similarly serious and professional today – to the extent that he still didn’t answer any of Miliband’s questions, but nor did he make a point of endlessly snarking or point-scoring off Miliband either.

Yet Miliband’s unwillingness to push the issue, and Cameron’s unwillingness (or worse – unpreparedness?) to answer the questions meant that the “debate” between the two leaders achieved little. It will be praised/damned by those who dislike/enjoy the adversarial nature of the Commons (delete as appropriate), but we don’t know significantly more now than we did before PMQs. Miliband’s only real blow (of sorts) was when he noted that when Russia invaded Georgia, David Cameron wanted them suspended from the G8 and said “Russian armies can’t march into other countries while Russian shoppers carry on marching into Selfridges”. Opposition leader Cameron was both opportunistic and bold. The challenge Miliband was throwing down was for Prime Minister Cameron to be equally as audacious.

And yet Miliband himself seemed unwilling to exhibit any audacity personally. Whilst of course it’s good to see an opposition leader taking a hugely complex international crisis seriously, it’s also a little disappointing – for those of us who wonder what Miliband would be like as PM – not to get a clearer sense of what, if anything, he’d do differently.

On Monday, I said that Miliband needs to answer the “Putin Question”. He’s still yet to do so. There’s no clear sense that the Labour Party has a position on the whole affair. But if it’s any consolation whatsoever (and goodness knows it shouldn’t be) the government doesn’t seem to have much of a position either.

Perhaps that means that Britain is impotent in such matters (outside of working with the EU – what a bitter pill that must be for the Tory Right), but if that’s the case, then it’d be good if one of our leaders had the common decency to tell us as much…