It wasn't the voting public, anyway.

I suggest Ming Campbell won!

After Alan Johnson and the terrorist attacks, this uncharachteristic piece of candour and a couple of fluffed lines in a largely irrelevant debate seemed to be the main media interest of the day.

And they all wonder why the public are increasingly alienated from politics?

1 Hezza

Your namesake, appearing on the Daily Politics, seemed to think that Gordon Brown hadn't done too badly.

SNP won that round - for not having to be involved in such a pathetic and nonsensical strumash !

It’s only unfortunate that these numpties make desicions that affect what’s happening in Scotland - we don’t need no fr*ggin’ ID cards up here - when we spot a terrorist - we kick the sh*t out of it !

Obviously the Prime Minister needs better jokes, and it is up to us to provide them. Here is my poor contribution:
A Husband and wife are sitting quietly in bed reading
when the wife looks over at him and asks THE question.

WIFE: "What would you do if I died? Would you get
married again?
HUSBAND: "Definitely not!"

WIFE: "Why not? Don't you like being married?"
HUSBAND: "Of course I do."

WIFE: "Then why wouldn't you remarry?"
HUSBAND: "Okay, okay, I'd get married again."

WIFE: "You would?" (with a hurt look)
HUSBAND: (makes audible groan)

WIFE: "Would you live in our house?"
HUSBAND: "Sure, it's a great house."

WIFE: "Would you sleep with her in our bed?"
HUSBAND: "Where else would we sleep?"

WIFE: "Would you let her drive my car?"
HUSBAND: "Probably, it is almost new."

WI FE: "Would you replace my pictures with hers?"
HUSBAND: "That would seem like the proper thing to do"

WIFE: "Would you give her my jewelry?"
HUSBAND : "No, I'm sure she'd want her own."

WIFE: "Would you take her golfing with you?
HUSBAND: "Yes, those are always good times."

WIFE: "Would she use my clubs?
HUSBAND: "No, she's left-handed."

WIFE: -- silence ..................
......
HUSBAND: " Sh*t!"

If there is any group or organisation calling for the killing of anyone, that is a breach of the law, and they should be arrested. There is no need to ban the group, just arrest them.

As for the rest of the nonsense, why doesn't Broon tell parliament that in future, during Prime Monster's Question time, he will actually answer the questions that have been asked, and answer them truthfully? That would make a very real change in the way that shambles is run. Then again, getting a politician to tell the truth about anything is a bit like trying to push s*** uphill.

People like Anjam Choudhury should be placed in the stocks and pelted with rotten fruit.
Public ridicule for ridiculous people.

What happened to the headlines of Brown sees popularity rocket or Labour on the rise. Utter bollocks. Brown's performance must have been bad if the Hootsmon editorial is slating him. Oh for goodness sake, I've only been in the job a few minutes....zero credibility that statement has. You have been in the inner cabinet for 10 years. Weasel words already - as many predicted, same old same old.

Honeymoon is over Brown.

I thought Brown handled himself very badly. The Emperor Ming got the better of him too.

But "Cocky" Cameron?? Hardly! And no, he's not a "Dave" either. This used-car salesman pitch the guy uses shows that he is not a "natural" at public speaking ... or much else come to that. He's dire!

Give it a few weeks and then we'll watch Gordy mop the floor with Cameron in future PMQs!

#10. How's the weather in Cloud Cuckoo land?

The chink in the mighty gordon armour has been found, after years of tantrum throwing demanding his turn to be prime minister he fluffed his first big day.

Better to come ?.

I hope so this guy is required to lead the country in times of crisis. The real big boys in the Party had to rescue him (john Ried bet that hurt).

Gordon Brown was a very good chancelor but alas i think he will go down in history as the man who oversw the end of labour dominence.

#5 Pictus
Nice one,hadn't heard it before.

I think it says it all when Ming gets the better of ye !

Brown is a bean counter. He can't be spontaneous, it's not in his make up.

Brown's first Prime Ministers Question Time was not unlike the night when Alex Salmond came to the rescue of Henry McLeish on the TV Question Time.
Brown was struggling and got bogged down on the doubtful relevance of ID cards when we had just seen a bungled attack by people who presumably would not have them.
He also wiped out the Secretary of State for Scotland office.
He compared very poorly with Alex Salmond's first First Minister's Question Time which showed how it could and should be done.

A "success" for Brown, the only person ever to give a worse performance at PMQs than Prescott. At least Prescott was only "filling in", unfortunately, we have Brown till the next election.

Brown will have to do better than this. The whole PMQs was uninspiring. What it needed to set it alight was a certain Tony Blair. In House of Commons terms His problem of course was a certain Gordon Brown. Also, if Iraq hadn't happened, Tony would still be there besting everyone with his self deprecatory humour and his all round realism. He was let down badly by Cheney and Rumsfeldt. They have been the real culprits.

Whilst PMQ's might be the showpice most voters couldn't give a flying duck about it - they are much more concerned with what actually happens than the bulls*** that is PMQs (or FMQs for that matter).

I think Brown was a disaster. "I've only been in the job five days". He has been the most senior Government mininster after the Prime Minister for 10 years. Alex Salmond had been in the job five minutes and he gave a bravura performance at his first First Minister's Questions. I will be surpirised if Brown improves. Cut and Thrust is not in his repertoire.

#20

Great debater he may be but I am still at all convinced by Alex Salmond - why does the word smug always come to mind when I see him . . .

*

#21 Oops - NOT convinced

17

sceptic - a genuine question: why do you want a Tory government?

ANYONE would be better than Labour- The most devious, dishonest and dangerous government in living memory.

Brown has been a liability as chancellor, in that his legacy will be a faltering and unaffordable economy, for only small benefits in return. The huge increases in public spending have been p***** against the wall. Tax has been increased and there's more to come.

He thinks because his partner in crime, Bliar, has run off, that he's off the hook. Fortunately not everyone is as gullible as some of the Labourites on here.

It's just after 11.40- will be watching for the Bank of England's announcement;I hope that they get the apostophe in the right place.
Tomais

It may say he has only been in the job for 5 days, but does anyone believe that he had no say or influence in what Teflon Tony was doing in the last 10 years

Martin at #10 quotes

The Tories lost my vote years ago. "Cocky Cameron " needs to grow up and realise that government is about more than scoring schoolboy points. Mr Cocky, Labour is in power, you are not!

Maybe you should pass these comments onto wee Jack and his cronies

#27

The big difference though Peter is that in Scotland no party has a majority - I'd go as far to say that after lasts week's vote that the SNP are in government but certainly not in power.

The clash of the Titons EH! They would both get voted out of Big Brother.

Robert McNeill's commentary is just the style we need. If politicians could put things over as plainly then we'd have real democratic representation, rather than a pompous pantomome. We want mair . . . we want mair . . .

#13 ThistleDhu "Gordon Brown was a very good chancellor but alas i think he will go down in history as the man who oversaw the end of labour dominance."

I agree with the second part of the statement, however I think the jury is still out on his handling of the economy.

With interest rates edging un to six per cent, massive trade imbalance, massive levels of personal debt, a house price bubble - things could go south quite rapidly for the Great Gordo.

As for his debating skills, he strikes me as slow and wooden. Its only a matter of time before this failing, together with events and the economy burst his media hyped 'bounce'.

What is it with people who support snake-oiled debaters - b****** quite frankly is usually all they deliver.

So Gordon's been shown up, and by Ming Campbell of all people, as usual the labour and snp trolls attack the tories, but at least they ran the country on a sound finacial basis. Also why no mention of the £200 billion debt to brown's failed PFI schemes that the country's stuck with for the next 30 years or so. And why is there never any mention outside of Private Eye as to why all these foriegn billionairs resident in Britain are paying no tax here. (Hint some of them make big donations to labour)

wow could he have stuttered more? I'm sure he will improve though. Having watched bliar on question time he seemed more intent on ignoring questions and trying to be funny.

#35 Which is the point I made earlier - great performers are not always the greatest doers.

Head line should read,
Labour party wakes up, sees gun shot wound in foot.
Can you imagine the chat in the bar afterwards, Oh my God what have we done.

Browns a backroom boy, who sends others to do his dirty work for him, A backstaber. He's no good when called to account for himself, face to face.

Bring on the election, lets see him debate with Alex, he'll run a mile, no chance of seeing him with Paxman either.

I'm no labour fan but i'm going to wait and see how brown does in the job before making any kneejerk reactions to a stutterning start to PMQs.

Brown was very poor but...

I really cannot be bothered with the perceived performance of someone at the dispatch box. It is the running of the country, policy and its implementation that is far more important.

The number of times i have read the media and they report a how marvelous someone was at the dispatch box only to see it on tv and find they did not answer a question. I far rather someone be honest and undergo difficult scrutiny rather than do what happens so often a just answer something completed different.

An example is when Ming was reported to have done poorly in the commons. He asked some question about the number of temporary heads in schools. A good enough question. Particularly since i have seldom heard questions that are actually informative rather than just reguritating the previous days headlines. Blair responded with some inane joke. Which would have been midly amusing if he had not ensure that questions were submitted in advance and it was his script writer really responding. Ming was reported to be poor and blair to this day never answered the question.

I agree with megz. Brown gets a pass on this one. Ultimately, he will be judged more on the effectiveness of his policies and the strength of the economy, than on his PMQ performance.

By the end of the year, Cameron will be spending most of his time trying to keep his party from tearing itself apart. A Labour victory at the next General Election is now a certainty.

#41 The Man Who Knows Nothing!

AM2., ##### From yesterday#####
‘North. You know, the British bit. That's why I'm British as well as Irish. It's quite simple really. Would you like me to draw you a map?’
Yes AM2, as you are working on a simple level, that is very kind of you, but as you are working to such a simplistic model, would it be possible for you to add in a modicum of detail for me. The detail I am referring to can be found on the front of your passport, you know, the piece which states Great Britain and Northern Ireland passport, could you please show us which part is counted as Great Britain, and which part is Northern Ireland. ; )
‘You said: “terrorism is being used to add to the obvious union flag flying”.
That could be your most inane conspiracy theory ever! Sillier even than TV programmes like “How We Built Britain” being part of a huge plot by the “nasty unionist establishment” to try to “brainwash us scrounging ungrateful lazy Scots into turning away from our nationalist ways”.’
First of all AM2, ‘nasty unionist establishment’, and ‘brainwash us scrounging ungrateful lazy Scots into turning away from our nationalist ways’, were satire, as most people realized, you do understand the concept of satire AM2, the second one on an article from the Daily Mail the other week. The flag waving has got to such a saturation point now, that it is being talked about openly now in the media, as for it being a plot, there did seem to be a lack of union flags being brought out at the time of the 300th anniversary of the act of union, and an incredible lack of programmes on the subject, just before the Scottish elections, any idea why. Yet after the election, and potentially before an independence referendum, bingo, a festival of the union flag, including a more blatant increase after the terrorist attacks. You call it conspiracy theory, but I call it observational analysis, I wrote what I saw, or didn’t, as is the cases of the missing century in, ‘How We Built Britain’,

42

Phil, you must be a Tory?

41

TMWK, I agree with you 100%. Increased majority?

#5 - I was hoping we could build a file of jokes for poor Gordon to use but it seems most of you are bairns of the manse or serious-minded Yankrebs.

#46. Pictus, Silver Bush

Did your de-fib machine come with a warranty?
I appear to have suffered a re-lapse.

A down at heel photo-journalist was covering the floods in
"The North".

As he was watching the raging torrent sweep along what was once a quiet suburban street, he spotted a familiar face clinging on to a space hopper for dear life..... it was Tony Blair.

Our man is faced with a potentially career-changing dilemma; does he:
(a) Take as many shots as he can with the high speed colour film that he has in his favourite camera, while his subject is still in sight.

(b) Opt for the timeless classic of high contrast black and white which is loaded in his spare.

Gordon-Brown may find that one handy for exorcising the ghost of his predecessor.

#50, Col Blimp III - Good one, Kernel! I'll have to look up that warranty! *chuckle*

Prime Minister's Questions.. Pish !
Cocky Cameron ? Yes.
Ming ? Smug after his one and only joke his whole time he's been in Parliament. Sad soul that he is.
Irn Broon ? Tired. Isn't he looking tired.

Jim Sheridan
Has just given me a new word
secret weapon: glibness

Whys he a slave? I thought slaveroy had been long since outlawed. May be it excludeds the Scottish Labour Party.