RUTHLESS CAMERON TAUNTS BROWN (PMQS - 28.11.07)

Daily Express ^

[UKrepublican]

RUTHLESS CAMERON TAUNTS BROWN

DAVID Cameron accused the Prime Minister of “incompetence and complacency” today during a furious row at the House of Commons.

Mr Cameron said the Brown Government had seen "disaster after disaster" and asked voters to consider whether he was "cut out for the job".

Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said Mr Brown had made a “remarkable transformation” from “Stalin to Mr Bean”.

During furious exchanges Mr Cameron said the latest funding affair raised questions about the integrity of Mr Brown.

This week it emerged that property developer David Abrahams gave the Labour party £650,000 under other people's names.

Labour's general secretary Peter Watt resigned after admitting he knew about the donations and it also emerged that chief fundraiser Jon Mendelson was told about it last month.

Brown said he knew nothing about the proxy donations until Saturday, an explanation which Mr Cameron said "beggars belief".

Mr Cameron said: “Does he really expect us to believe that someone who even his own side say is a control freak was preparing for an election, sorting out the finances and sitting round a table with everyone caught up in this scandal and yet didn’t have the first idea what was going on?

“His excuses go from incompetence to complacency and there are questions about his integrity.

“Aren’t people rightly now asking: Is this man simply not cut out for the job?”

Leader of the Liberal Democrats said: "This house has noticed the Prime Minister's remarkable transformation in the last few weeks from Stalin to Mr Bean, creating chaos out of order and order out of chaos."

The Prime Minister told MPs that the situation with donations was “completely unjustifiable” and promised that the party would co-operate fully with any investigations, whether by the Electoral Commission or the police.

But Mr Cameron made reference to the Northern Rock crisis and the loss of 25million people's details to suggest that the entire Brown reign has been a disaster.

“We have had 155 days of this Government. We have had disaster after disaster - a run on a bank, half the country’s details lost in the post and now this.

“His excuses go from incompetence to complacency and there are questions about his integrity."

Mr Brown responded by pointing to low inflation, low interest rates and the lowest unemployment levels for a generation.

He said Labour would do “everything in [its] power” to ensure it followed “acceptable” standards in relation to its fundraising in future.

“We are ready to take any further measures - and I hope there will be all-party support - so that everything in party politics is above board, including the use of third party sources for donations," he added.

[UKrepublican]

UK Ping list - if you would like on or off, freepmail me.

[UKrepublican]

PING

You can see the ‘roasting’ here: http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30000-1294800,.html

Go Cameron!

Full Cameron vs Brown exchanges:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7110000/newsid_7116900/7116995.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1&ms3=20&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=2

Full PMQS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7110000/newsid_7116700/7116782.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

[UKrepublican]

PING

You can see the ‘roasting’ here: http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30000-1294800,.html

Go Cameron!

Full Cameron vs Brown exchanges:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7110000/newsid_7116900/7116995.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1&ms3=20&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=2

Full PMQS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7110000/newsid_7116700/7116782.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

[agere_contra]

I’m warming to “Chocolate Orange” (and I’ll try not to call him that any more). Aggression is a very good thing for a Conservative.

[SF Republican]

Tony Blair chuckles over his tea and crumpets.

[exit82]

Hey, as anyone “seen” MadIvan lately?

[UKrepublican]

Apparently he was banned.

[Preachin']

"Apparently he was banned."

No. His ID is still valid. Maybe he was banned for a period of time, and never came back? He just hasn’t posted since 3/10/07.

I remember that he left FR for a long time several years back. It seems I can remember that he was involved in some other type of blog (non-political, i.e., Star Wars, or something like that).

[NeoCaveman]

Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said Mr Brown had made a “remarkable transformation” from “Stalin to Mr Bean”.

I wish American politicians said things like this. In the states, our pols leave this sort of thing to talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh.

[untenured]

The British seem to value being quick-witted as a skill in their leading politicians. I think many of them came up through the debating culture. Tony Blair and even (love him or hate him) George Galloway are far wittier and faster on their feet than most American politicians. Here the pols leave writing good lines to speechwriters, and try to utterly micromanage their entire day. This was on vivid display in that clumsy answer Hillary Clinton gave about drivers licenses for illegals a few weeks back - it was a question outside her narrow zone of preparation, and it made her look terrible. Most US politicians would have done equally badly. The ones who perform well in that environment often do it in a folksy, comforting way, people like Ronald Reagan or Charles Rangel. The British rapier style just doesn't much exist here, I think.

A phenomenon like Prime Minister's Question Time would leave our politicians looking utterly ridiculous.