PMQs Verdict: Tory MPs are leaving Westminster with their tails up. Labour MPs? Less so

Ed Miliband has not had a good week. Polls have moved against him – largely due to the Labour vote share falling, rather than any great resurgence from the Tories – revealing Labour’s less than firm grasp on a majority winning voteshare. That’s induced nerves amongst some, agitation amongst others and for the pessimistic – a resigned shrug. With new strategist David Axelrod in Parliament today (but not, it seems, in the chamber to watch PMQs), Miliband will have wanted to deliver a strong performance in the Commons today to send his MPs off to campaign in good heart.

Alas, this was not one of Miliband’s best performances.

He started off relatively well. Knowing that the unemployment figures released today were unambiguously positive, Miliband was positive about the news. He avoided ifs and buts – thus avoiding looking like a doommonger. Unfortunately, he used the job figures as an opportunity to launch into a series of questions about Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Now the hostile takeover of a company which produces 2% of UK exports is undoubtedly a big issue – especially when it’s so important for the UK’s research and development base, and a major employer. But Miliband has been talking about this issue for nearly two weeks – and it’s not dominating conversations on the doorstep. Cameron has undoubtedly failed to be assertive enough in terms of securing safeguards for AstraZeneca if a takeover is successful – but it’s not what they’re talking about in the Dog and Duck tonight (unless it’s the Dog and Duck where AstraZeneca workers go after they finish work). Miliband was asking the right questions, but they weren’t getting much of a reaction from the backbenchers behind him – until Miliband took a swipe at the Royal Mail sell off at the end of his questions.

And it’s the reaction of the backbenchers that defined today’s PMQs. The Tory MPs have their tails up. They roared from start to finish in what seemed co-ordinated but enthusiastic fashion. They tried to throw Miliband off his game at every opportunity. A couple of small poll leads may not be the be all and end all, but for a Tory Party starved of such things for two years, the backbenchers have seized upon them like ravenous hounds. Whilst Cameron’s party have seldom been united behind him, they sure as hell looked like they were today.

Meanwhile on the Labour benches, there were moments that ignited passions, but the reaction had little of the force or conviction of their Tory counterparts. Many sat relatively quietly through PMQs. Perhaps they were hoping for Miliband to go on access to GPs – this is meant to be Labour’s “NHS week” after all. Perhaps they hoped that Miliband’s plans on rents – one of his most radical and impressive policy offers so far – would be given a further push. Either might have got their tails up – but a serious, complex and somewhat bureaucratic debate about Pfizer didn’t seem to have the same impact.

Unfortunately, as we head into a crucial election week, Tory MPs are leaving Westminster with their tails up. Labour MPs? Less so.